East Caribbean dollar Totally Explained

Everything about The East Caribbean Dollar totally explained

The East Caribbean dollar (currency code XCD) is the currency of eight of the nine members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. It has existed since 1965 and is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $ or, alternatively, EC$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The EC$ is subdivided into 100 cents. It has been pegged to the United States dollar at US$1 = EC$2.7 since 1976. Because of this relatively low exchange rate and the inherent physical similarities, the 25 cent coin has been used by fraudsters in Canada in place of the Canadian quarter.

States using the EC$

Six of the states using the EC$ are independent states: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The other two are British overseas territories: Anguilla and Montserrat. The only OECS member state not using the Eastern Caribbean dollar is British Virgin Islands, which uses the U.S. dollar.
The combined population is close to 600,000 (2005 and 2006 census and estimates), which is comparable to Montenegro or the city of Washington, D.C.. Queen Elizabeth appears on the banknotes and the obverse of the coins: she's the head of state of all the states and territories using the EC$, except Dominica.

History

The EC$ replaced the British West Indian dollar (BWI$), used by the defunct West Indies Federation, at par in 1965. Between 1965 and 1983, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority issued the EC$, with banknotes from 1965 and coins from 1981.
In 1972 Barbados left the currency union.
The EC$ is now issued by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, based in the city of Basseterre, in Saint Kitts and Nevis. The bank was established by an agreement (the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Agreement) signed at Port of Spain on July 5 1983.

Coins

Until 1981, the coins of the BWI$ circulated. In 1981, a new series of coins was introduced in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 25 cents and 1 dollar. The round, aluminium bronze dollar coin was replaced in 1989 with a decagonal, cupro-nickel type. Higher denominations exist, but these were issued only as medal-coins.

2002 Series (External Link)
Value	Technical parameters	Description	Date of first minting
Value	Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
1 cent	18.42 mm	1.03 g	Aluminium	Plain	Elizabeth II	Value, year of minting, "Eastern Caribbean States"	2002
2 cents	21.46 mm	1.42 g
5 cents	23.11 mm	1.74 g
10 cents	18.06 mm	2.59 g	Cupronickel	Ribbed		Value, year of minting, "Eastern Caribbean States", ship
25 cents	23.98 mm	6.48 g		Ribbed
1 dollar	26.5 mm	7.98 g		Alternate smooth and ribbed

Banknotes

In 1965, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority issued banknotes in denominations of 1, 5, 20 and 100 dollars. The first issues in the name of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in 1985 were of the same denominations, with the addition of 10 dollars notes. The last 1 dollar notes were issued in 1989 and 50 dollar notes were introduced in 1993.

Further Information

Get more info on 'East Caribbean Dollar'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://east_caribbean_dollar.totallyexplained.com">East Caribbean dollar Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.