Historical Sketch

Christopher Columbus discovered the island for the Europeans in 1502 and named Isla de Santa Lucia. In 1643, Saint Lucia came under French rule but remained disputed between France and England during the 18th century ant was finally taken the British in 1803. Saint Lucia was one of the British Windward Islands, which were never united into one colony. After the disintegration of the West Indian Federation, Saint Lucia became a separate British possession in 1962 and attained independence in 1979.

Monetary History Overview

The Caribbean had always been an important station on the trade routes between the Spanish American possessions and Europe. Thus, Spanish trade coins got introduced and dominated the payment transactions, predominantly the so-called "Spanish Dollar", the eight Reals in silver. The isolation of the islands brought scarcity of specie and thus caused an overvaluation of the trade coins compared with the European markets. In the English possessions, various "accounting Shillings" emerged which were determined by the local valuation of the Spanish trade coins, differing considerably from the metropolitan rating of 50 Pence Sterling per Spanish Dollar. In 1825, the Pound Sterling became the sole currency for all British possessions although in St. Lucia the accounting in French Colonial Livre remained common since the island had come under British rule only in the early 19th century. The dominance of Spanish trade coins in payments did not change for the time being. In the mid-19th century, however, the local accounting currencies were abolished everywhere, which corresponded to a massive devaluation of the local money. Not so in St. Lucia where the Colonial Livre had stabilized the local money, such that the transition of 1838 meant only a minimal cut by 4%, as the Spanish Dollar went from 10.4 Livres to 10 Livres or 50 Pence Sterling. The foreign coinage was tolerated in payments until the late 19th century, and the name "Dollar" remained in customary use for an amount of 50 Pence Sterling, the former rate of the Spanish Dollar. In the 1930s, St. Lucia came under the authority of the Barbados Currency Board. Since 1951, the monetary affairs are handled by the British West Indian and, later, Eastern Caribbean institutions.

Since independence, Saint Lucia has been using the Eastern Caribbean Dollar instead of a national currency.

Saint Lucia joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 15.11.1979.

Currency Units Timeline

Currency Institutes Timeline

Monetary History Sources