Time Period: 1700-1826

Timeline

  • 1667-1761
  • Payments could be made in sugar, which in 1679 got rated at 1 Stiver per pound. The practice came our of use when more coinage got imported into the colonies in the second half of the 18th century.
  • around 1750
  • Rating of Spanish and Portuguese trade coins in Dutch currency:
    - Spanish Dollar (8 Spanish Real in silver) at 48 Stuivers
    - Spanish Doubloon (8 Spanish Escudo in gold) at 40 Guilders
    - Portuguese Doubloon (6400 Portuguese Real in gold) at 18¾ Guilders
  • 17.11.1763
  • Ordinance (by governor general Wigbold Crommelin) on the production of local subsidiary coins of 1 Duit and 1 Stiver by the Suriname Company; effective immediately.
    - In 1764, copper Duit coins were minted in Enkhuizen and brought to Suriname; the Stiver was never produced.


Time Period: 1826-2003

Currency: Surinamese Guilder


Timeline

  • 10.05.1826
  • Royal decree on the introduction of the Dutch accounting and currency into the West Indies; effective 01.01.1827
    - All foreign and earlier coinage was demonetized in Suriname.
  • 14.12.1853
  • Proclamation of the Dutch Coinage Act of 1847 in the West Indian colonies; effective 21.06.1854.
  • 19.01.1865
  • Law on the establishment of the Surinamese Bank; effective upon constitution of the bank on 18.07.1865
  • 28.06.1881
  • Proclamation of the Dutch Coinage Act of 1875 in the West Indian colonies; effective 01.01.1882 (?)
  • 01.07.1909
  • Coinage Act on the legal tender status of the Dutch coinage and demonetization of foreign gold and silver coins; effective 04.10.1909
  • 24.07.1940
  • Currency Agreement between the Dutch government-in-exile and the United Kingdom on the pegging of the Curaçao and Suriname currencies to the British Pound; effective immediately.
    - 18.04.1942: Issuance of Dutch subsidiary coins produced by US mints by the government in exile.
  • 30.10.1949
  • End of parity for Dutch coins, they remained legal tender at a rate of 1 Surinamese Guilder = 2 Netherlands Guilders
  • 10.10.1956
  • Law on the establishment of the Central Bank of Suriname; effective upon constitution of the bank on 01.07.1957
  • 08.04.1960
  • Coinage law on the introduction of Surinamese coins; effective by ordinance of 25.04.1961.

Valuation Regimes

  • 1826-1940
  • Identical with Netherlands Guilder with limited convertibility, during 1854-1898 there was a discount in place
  • 1940-1946
  • Fixed rate against British Pound (due to the German occupation of the Netherlands)
  • 1946-1993
  • Fixed rate against US Dollar
  • 1993-2003
  • Variable rate, the fixed official rate was suspended on 08.06.1993

Rate Arrangements

  • 10.05.1826
  • Fixed
  • Netherlands Guilder at 1 : 1
  • -
  • 24.07.1940
  • Fixed
  • British Pound at 1 : 7.60
  • ±0.0%
  • 18.12.1946
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 1.886
  • ±0.0%
  • 23.12.1971
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 1.79
  • +5.4%
  • 08.06.1993
  • Variable
  • initially: US Dollar at 1 : 44 - Free market rate
  • -95.9%


Time Period: 2004-

Currency: Surinamese Dollar


Timeline

  • 31.10.2003
  • Law [No. 89] on the currency reform; effective 01.01.2004
  • 01.01.2004
  • Start of currency exchange:
    - 01.01.2004: Start of issuance of the new banknotes; the subsidiary coins of the Guilder currency (which had disappeared from the market during the inflationary period) were re-issued
    - 31.05.2004: Demonetization of the former banknotes.

Valuation Regimes

  • 2004-
  • Fixed rate against US Dollar, de facto float between 23.03.2016 and 01.10.2018

Rate Arrangements

  • 01.01.2004
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 2.74
  • -4.0%
  • 01.01.2011
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 3.30
  • -17.1%
  • 19.11.2015
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 4.00
  • -17.5%
  • 23.03.2016
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 5.11
  • -21.8%
  • 01.10.2018
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 7.46
  • -31.4%
  • 22.09.2020
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 14.15
  • -47.3%
  • 08.06.2021
  • Fixed
  • US Dollar at 1 : 21.00
  • -32.6%


End-year Forex Rates (Units per US Dollar)