The Surinamese dollar (

ISO 4217 ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines alpha codes and numeric codes for the representation of currencies and provides information about the relationships between individ ...

code ''SRD'') has been the

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

since 2004. It is divided into 100 '' cent''. The Surinamese dollar is normally abbreviated with the

dollar sign The dollar sign, also known as the peso sign, is a currency symbol consisting of a Letter case, capital crossed with one or two vertical strokes ( or depending on typeface), used to indicate the unit of various currency, currencies around ...

''$'', or alternatively ''Sr$'' to distinguish it from other

dollar Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...

-denominated currencies. In spoken Surinamese Dutch, it is widely referred to by its acronym SRD (), with "dollar" generally being understood as meaning the

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

History

The dollar replaced the Surinamese guilder on 1 January 2004, with one dollar equal to 1,000 guilders. Initially, only coins were available, with banknotes delayed until mid-February, reportedly due to a problem at the printer, the Canadian Bank Note Company. The old coins denominated in cents (i.e. guilder) were declared to be worth their face value in the new cents, negating the necessity of producing new coins. Thus, for example, an old 25-cent coin, previously worth guilder, was now worth dollar (equivalent to 250 guilders). The rebasing of coins explicitly did not apply to commemorative coins. Amendment 121 of

gave the currency the code SRD replacing the Suriname guilder (SRG). The people of Suriname often refer to their currency as SRD to differentiate it from the US dollar, which is also used to quote prices for electronic goods, household furnishings and appliances, and automobiles. The value of the Surinamese dollar (SRD) was set by the central bank between 2004 and 2021. As a result,

black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...

currency exchange thrived. The Central Bank of Suriname spent much of Suriname's foreign currency reserves supporting the official exchange rates as inflation and other factors caused the real value of the Surinamese dollar to decline against other reserve currencies. In June 2021, the central bank devalued the SRD by 33% and announced the currency would float freely. By June 2022, official exchange rates began to reflect the real floating exchange rate. ;Historical official exchange rates of one U.S. dollar in Surinamese dollars SUR002

Coins

Coins in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 100 and 250 cents from the previous currency are in circulation.

Banknotes

The Surinamese dollar replaced the Surinamese guilder on 1 January 2004, with one dollar equal to 1,000 guilders, prompting the issuance of notes denominated in the new currency. On the notes, the currency is expressed in the singular, as is the Dutch custom. Banknotes come in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 SRD. Years of high inflation have greatly reduced the purchasing power of the Surinamese dollar. To ease handling of cash, banknotes of 200 and 500 SRD were announced in August 2023 and introduced by the end of March 2024.

References

External links

Central Bank of Suriname

Banknotes of Suriname
{{Portal bar, Money, Numismatics, Suriname Economy of Suriname Currencies introduced in 2004 Currencies of South America Currencies of the Caribbean Dollar Circulating currencies

History

Coins

Banknotes

See also

References

External links