Caribbean guilder
The Caribbean guilder is the currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, two constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is divided into 100 cents. Introduced on 31 March 2025, it replaced the Netherlands Antillean guilder, which ceased to be legal tender on 1 July 2025 after a period of co-circulation.
In November 2022, it was announced that the Caribbean guilder would come into circulation the following year, but it was delayed several times. The cost of the design and production of the Caribbean guilder was approximately 15 million ANG. ANG is exchangeable at par at commercial banks for the new currency for one year following introduction, and thereafter for 29 years at the Central Bank of [Curaçao and Sint Maarten].
Naming
The Caribbean guilder uses the ISO 4217 code of XCG, with the initial X used for supranational currencies, and retains the supplanted Netherlands Antillean guilder's numeric code of 532. The Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten has announced its official abbreviation as Cg.History
The Netherlands Antillean guilder continued to circulate after the dissolution of [the Netherlands Antilles] and plans to implement the Caribbean guilder were not finalized until both countries would agree to have a common currency At the time, it was reported that the new currency would be abbreviated CMg and would be pegged to the United States dollar at the same exchange rate as the Netherlands Antillean guilder. As the BES islands adopted the U.S. dollar directly on 1 January 2011, the introduction of the CMg would have meant the end of the circulation of the Netherlands Antillean guilder.In April 2014, Curaçao and Sint Maarten agreed to look into the possibility of Curaçao having its own central bank. As long as further negotiations continued, the Caribbean guilder would not be introduced. In July 2015, the Minister of Finance of Curaçao, José Jardim, stated that research on a monetary union between Curaçao and Sint Maarten was not a priority. Former Curaçao MP Alex David Rosaria said that a major problem with the proposed union was the lack of a forum to discuss macroeconomic coordination.
In 2019, the finance minister of Sint Maarten stated that there were only two years of reserve Antillean guilder banknotes remaining and that the islands would need to make a decision soon. The islands also considered adopting the U.S. dollar or euro.
In November 2019, Curaçao Minister of Finance Kenneth Gijsbertha confirmed the introduction of the Caribbean guilder in 2021, and the Central Bank officially announced it a year later. By August 2021, it was reported that the new guilder would have expected a launch in either 2023 or 2024. In September 2022, CBCS wanted the guilder introduced in 2024. Then by July 2023, that was postponed to 2025 at the latest. The currency was eventually introduced in March 2025.