The guilder was the currency of Suriname until 2004, when it was replaced by the Surinamese dollar. It was divided into 100 cents. Until the 1940s, the plural in Dutch was cents, with centen appearing on some early paper money, but after the 1940s the Dutch plural became cent.
History
The Surinamese guilder was initially at par with the Dutch guilder. In 1940, following the occupation of the Netherlands, the currency was pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 1.88585 guilders = 1 dollar. The Surinamese guilder suffered from high inflation in the beginning of the 1990s. It was replaced by the Surinamese dollar on 1 January 2004 at a rate of 1 dollar = 1,000 guilders. To save cost of manufacturing, coins of less than 5 guilders were made legal for their face value in the new currency. Thus, these coins increased their purchasing power by a thousandfold overnight.
Coins
Until 1942, Dutch coins circulated in Suriname. Starting that year, coins were minted in the United States for use in Netherlands Guiana, some of which also circulated in the Netherlands Antilles. These coins were in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 25 cents. In 1962, coins were introduced bearing the name Suriname for the first time. These were in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 25 cents and 1 guilder. The 1 cent was bronze, the 5-cent nickel-brass, the 10 and 25 cents were cupro-nickel and the 1 guilder was silver. Aluminium 1- and 5-cent coins were introduced in 1974 and 1976. In 1987, copper-plated steel replaced aluminium in the 1- and 5-cent coins and cupro-nickel 100- and 250-cent coins were introduced.
Banknotes
In 1826, the Algemene Nederlandsche Maatschappij issued - and 3-guilder notes. These were followed in 1829 by notes of the West Indies Bank in denominations of, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 and 50 guilders. The Bank introduced 10, 15 and 25 centen and 25 guilder notes in 1837, followed by 100, 200 and 300 guilder notes in 1865. The Surinaamsche Bank introduced 50 guilder notes in 1901, followed by 10 guilders in 1915, 200 guilders in 1925, 50 guilders in 1926, 100 guilders in 1927, 5 guilders in 1935, guilders in 1940, 25 guilders in 1941, 1000 guilders in 1943 and 300 guilders in 1948. The government issued silver certificates between 1918 and 1920 for, 1 and guilders. Further issues for 50 cents and 1 guilder were introduced in 1940. The 50-cent coin was issued until 1942, with guilders being introduced in 1950. The silver certificates were superseded in 1960 by muntbiljet for 1 and guilders, which were issued until 1985. In 1957, the Central Bank of Suriname took over paper money production, issuing notes for 5, 10, 25, 100 and 1,000 guilders. Five-hundred-guilder notes were introduced in 1982, followed by 250 guilders in 1988. Two-thousand-guilder notes were introduced in 1995, followed by 5,000 and 10,000 guilders in 1997 and 25,000 guilders in 2000. The last series of banknotes was introduced in 2000 in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000 guilders. This colorful issue has native birds on the fronts and native flowers on the backs.
