This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.
The Cook Islands dollar was the former currency of the Cook Islands, which now uses the New Zealand dollar, although some physical cash issued for the Cook Islands dollar remains in use. The dollar was subdivided into 100 cents, with some older 50-cent coins carrying the denomination as "50 tene".
In 1972, local issues of coins of the New Zealand dollar began to be released for the Cook Islands.
In 1987, the Cook Islands dollar was established and pegged at par to the New Zealand dollar,[1] with each Cook Islands dollar backed by a New Zealand dollar held by the Treasury of the Cook Islands government and freely interchangeable; the New Zealand dollar remained legal tender alongside the new currency.[2]
The Currency Reserves Amendment Act 1989 modified the required backing of Cook Islands dollars to 50% of the face value for circulating currency, and 2% of the face value for currency not intended for circulation (proof, uncirculated, and souvenir coin sets; uncut note sheets).[3]
By 1993, circulating $3 notes were only backed by 5% of their face value in NZD, and coins were not backed at all. Meanwhile, the rate of currency issuance, and governmental budget deficits, had increased such that the national debt was nearly double annual GDP. Eventually, commercial banks refused to convert the currency to New Zealand dollars resulting in capital flight and an economic crisis.[1] This prompted the government to revert to using the New Zealand dollar as the country's currency in April 1995.[4] Cook Islands dollar banknotes other than the $3 notes ceased to be legal tender,[5] although they remained convertible to New Zealand dollars at the Cook Islands Treasury until 2005.[6]
Coins have been struck on different occasions mainly by the Royal Australian Mint, the Franklin Mint and National Collecter's Mint in the United States, and the Perth Mint, with the paper currency being printed by De La Rue in England.
Coins
Clockwise from top: $5, $1, 5¢, 10¢, $2.
In 1972, bronze 1 and 2-cent, and cupro-nickel 5, 10, 20, and 50-cent, and 1-dollar coins were introduced. All were the same size, weight, and composition as the corresponding New Zealand coins, however, the unique British crown-sized dollar coin circulated much more readily than its New Zealand equal. Each coin depicted plants, animals, and items unique to the Cook Islands.
In 1983, production of the 1 and 2-cent coins was ceased and the two coins were later demonetized – almost 10 years before the equivalent occurred in New Zealand.
The Cook Islands has a long reputation for frequent monetary oddities. It was one of the last countries to hold on to large crown-sized coins ($1 of the 1972-83 issue) while elsewhere, coins of such size are no longer minted in large enough quantities intended for circulation.
In 1987, a smaller, lighter scallop-edged$1 coin with a similar size and shape to the Hong Kong$2 piece was issued. This coin was produced to replace its bulky predecessor. With the release of its new $2 piece in that year, the Cook Islands became the first modern country to issue a circulating triangular coin, along with a dodecagonal (twelve-sided) $5 piece in equal size and shape to the Australian 50-cent coin. These $1 and $2 were composed of cupro-nickel and the $5 coin was in aluminium bronze.
1988 brought the redesign of the 50-cent piece, the first coin in the country to bear a denomination name. Although widely recognized as "cents" this coin depicts "tene", the Cook Islands Māori equivalent to the English word cent.
In 1995, the Cook Islands dollar was withdrawn in favour of the New Zealand dollar only. Local coins remained in use and technically became denominated in New Zealand dollars, likewise for future coin issues even as they continued to be inscribed with the words "Cook Islands".
2003 saw the reintroduction of a 1-cent coin, this time composed of aluminium rather than bronze and slightly smaller and thicker than the 10-cent piece. These were issued with five different reverses, each commemorating a few of the nation's historical themes.
With the reduction in size of New Zealand's 10, 20, and 50-cent coins in 2006, older cent coins began to be phased out in both countries. However, $1, $2, and $5 pieces remained in use. Although a 2010 commemorative Cook Islands coin set in denominations 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50-cents and a bimetallic$1 have been minted with a similar size to some of the newer New Zealand ones, these coins are for collectors and intended to raise money for the Cook Islands government, rather than for release into circulation.
In 2015, as part of a coinage reform, new coins were minted by the Royal Australian Mint.[7] The new coins carry similar designs to the older ones with the 10, 20, and 50-cents struck in nickel-plated steel, while the 1, 2, and 5-dollar coins are struck in brass-plated steel. The new 5-dollar coin features a traditional vaka (a type of canoe) instead of a conch. The cents are smaller than previous issues with closer size and weight to the current coins of New Zealand while the new dollars continue to have their distinctive shapes.
On 30 April 2016, all previous coins lost legal tender status and were withdrawn from circulation.[8]
The Cook Islands also issue a large number of commemorative non-circulating collectors' coins featuring an almost endless array of themes, as the government has a contract in which a coin design can be commissioned and minted with the name "Cook Islands" and dollar units for a fee, making coinage a resource for extra revenue. Due to exchange schemes involving large stocks of non-circulating commemorative coins, mintages are regulated and not recognized or accepted as legal tender within the Cook Islands.
Banknotes
On 20 July 1987, 3, 10, and 20-dollar notes were introduced by the government, followed by 50-dollar notes as part of a new series of notes in 1992. The notes all bear images of items, events, and panorama relevant to native Polynesian culture.
In June 1995, the government of the Cook Islands began exchanging all of the larger banknotes for New Zealand currency, but the 3-dollar note and all coins remain in use.[10]
In 2015, the Cook Islands Ministry of Finance and Economic Management sold its final stocks of Cook Islands banknotes by tender.[11]
On 4 August 2021, the Cook Islands Ministry of Finance and Economic Management issued a new 3-dollar banknote, being printed on polymer.[12][13]
The Australian dollar is the official currency and legal tender of Australia, including all of its external territories, and three independent sovereign Pacific Island states: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. In April 2022, it was the sixth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market and as of Q4 2023 the seventh most-held reserve currency in global reserves.
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in payment of a debt extinguishes the debt. There is no obligation on the creditor to accept the tendered payment, but the act of tendering the payment in legal tender discharges the debt.
The Singapore dollar is the official currency of the Republic of Singapore. It is divided into 100 cents. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issues the banknotes and coins of the Singapore dollar.
The Sri Lankan Rupee is the currency of Sri Lanka. It is subdivided into 100 cents, but cents are rarely seen in circulation due to its low value. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The abbreviation Re (singular) and Rs (plural) is generally used, the World Bank suggests SL Rs as a fully disambiguating abbreviation for distinction from other currencies named "rupee".
The term "half dollar" refers to a half-unit of several currencies that are named "dollar". One dollar ($1) is normally divided into subsidiary currency of 100 cents, so a half dollar is equal to 50 cents. These half dollars are denominated as either Coins or as banknotes. Although more than a dozen countries have their own unique dollar currency, not all of them use a 50 cent piece or half dollar. This article only includes half dollars and 50 cent pieces that were intended for circulation, those that add up to units of dollars, and those in the form of a coin.
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.
The paʻanga is the currency of Tonga. It is controlled by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga in Nukuʻalofa. The paʻanga is not convertible and is pegged to a basket of currencies comprising the Australian, New Zealand, and United States dollars and the Japanese yen.
The vatu is the currency of Vanuatu. It has no subdivisions.
The Bermudian dollar is the official currency of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is subdivided into 100 cents. The Bermudian dollar is not normally traded outside Bermuda, and is pegged to the United States dollar at a one-to-one ratio. Both currencies circulate in Bermuda on an equal basis.
The Fijian dollar has been the currency of Fiji since 1969 and was also the currency between 1867 and 1873. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively FJ$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents.
The Jamaican dollar has been the currency of Jamaica since 1969. It is often abbreviated to J$, the J serving to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents, although cent denominations are no longer in use as of 2018. Goods and services may still be priced in cents, but cash transactions are now rounded to the nearest dollar.
The Trinidad and Tobago dollar is the currency of Trinidad and Tobago. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively TT$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is subdivided into 100 cents. Cents are abbreviated with the cent sign ¢, or TT¢ to distinguish from other currencies that use cents. Its predecessor currencies are the Trinidadian dollar and the Tobagonian dollar.
The Saint Helenapound is the currency of the Atlantic islands of Saint Helena and Ascension, which are constituent parts of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is fixed at parity with sterling, and so both currencies are commonly accepted and circulated within Saint Helena. It is subdivided into 100 pence.
The Solomon Islands dollar is the currency of Solomon Islands since 1977. Its symbol is $, with SI$ used to differentiate it from other currencies also using the dollar sign. It is subdivided into 100 cents.
The Tuvaluan dollar is one of the currencies of Tuvalu, whose unofficial international currency code is TVD. Tuvalu has never had banknotes of its own, and has been issuing coins since 1976. However, the Tuvaluan dollar is used as a unit of account, and is pegged to the Australian dollar at parity. From 1966 to 1976, Tuvalu officially used the Australian dollar. In 1976, Tuvalu began issuing its own coins, which continue to circulate alongside Australian coins. Tuvalu continues to use Australian banknotes. Tuvaluan coins are not legal tender in Australia. Similar to the Faroese króna's relationship to the Danish krone and the Panamanian balboa's relationship to the United States dollar, the Tuvaluan dollar is not an independent currency, but a variation of the Australian dollar.
The twelve-sided Australian fifty-cent coin is the third-highest denomination coin of the Australian dollar and the largest in terms of size in circulation. It is equal in size and shape to the Cook Island $5 coin, and both remain the only 12-sided coins in the southern hemisphere. It was introduced in 1969 to replace the round fifty-cent coin issued in 1966.
The coins of the New Zealand dollar are used for the smallest physical currency available in New Zealand. The current denominations are ten cents, twenty cents, fifty cents, one dollar and two dollars. The $1 and $2 coins are minted in a gold colour, the 20c and 50c coins are silver colour and the 10c coin is plated in copper.
The Pitcairn Islands is a British overseas territory which uses the New Zealand dollar as its primary currency. However, the territory has issued commemorative Pitcairn Islands dollar coins since 1988. Although the Pitcairn Islands Dollar is legal tender and pegged at par to the New Zealand Dollar, it is not commonly used in general circulation and exists primarily to generate revenue for the territory coin collectors, with the sale of coins and other numismatic items being a major source of revenue for the territory. Having a population of only 50 according to the 2020 census, and with only one island in the group of four being populated, there is no need for local coinage. Coins consist of an important part of the Pitcairn Islands' tiny economy and help raise funds for the government's largely fixed and subsidised income.
Niue, a country in free association with New Zealand, uses only one official legal tender currency, which is the New Zealand dollar.
The drachma was the official currency of modern Greece from 1832 until the launch of the euro in 2001.
References
1 2 Burdekin, Richard C. K. (2008). "Currency Boards vs. Dollarization: Lessons from the Cook Islands". Cato Journal. 28 (1): 101–115. CiteSeerX10.1.1.556.2749.
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Cook Islands (New Zealand) (alongside New Zealand dollar)
