Historical Sketch

Several European navigators reached individual islands of the group scattered across the Pacific, among them the British Thomas Gilbert in 1788. An Anglo-German agreement of 1886 partitioned all then unclaimed islands in the central Pacific between the two colonial powers, leaving the Gilbert Islands in the British zone. In 1892, Great Britain established a protectorate, administration was combined with the geographically and culturally unrelated Ellice Islands. In 1941-1943, parts of the Gilbert Islands came under Japanese occupation. In preparation for independence, the two island groups were separated in 1975. In 1979, the Gilbert Islands attained independence as Republic of Kiribati.

Monetary History Overview

Due to their remoteness Great Britain did not regulated the monetary affairs of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands for half a century. An ordinance of 1939 officially introduced the Australian currency, which remained so after the Australian currency decimalisation of 1966. During World War II the northern Gilbert Islands were occupied by Japan, which nominally suspended the Australian Pound and introduced the so-called Military Yen instead. Due to the isolation and small economies this had probably little effect, if any. After the liberation in 1943 any Japanese occupation money was declared invalid without compensation. Beginning 1976, the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands were separated, each of them confirming the Australian currency. After independence in 1979, the Republic of Kiribati continued to use the Australian Dollar instead of a national currency of its own. Local subsidiary coinage was authorized in a 1979 currency ordinance, to circulate alongside the Australian banknotes and coins.

Kiribati joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 03.06.1986.

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