 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2008) |
A de facto currency is a unit of money that is not legal tender in a country but is treated as such by most of the populace. The United States dollar and the European Union euro are the most common de facto currencies.
Andorra used the euro unofficially prior to June 2013, at which point the euro became its official currency. The euro remains the de facto currency in Kosovo and Montenegro.
Countries using the United States dollar as their de facto currency include Aruba and Cambodia, where most hotels, restaurants, and transportation are priced in dollars; [1] Dominican Republic where it is acceptable in many places, including airports to pay temporary visa fees for non-US/Dominican visits; Iraq, where United States commercial, governmental and military involvement due to the Iraq War and the Iraqi Dinar's low value has made the US dollar highly preferred;[ citation needed ] Timor-Leste, Lebanon,[ citation needed ] El Salvador, Ecuador and Panama;[ citation needed ] Venezuela where they accept the USD for practically everything as a substitute for the highly inflated Venezuelan bolívar.
The disputed territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Crimea have the Russian ruble as their de facto currency.
Due to hyperinflation in Zimbabwe in 2006 to 2008, the government of Zimbabwe has allowed circulation of foreign currency since September 2008 and local currency became obsolete since 12 April 2009. Both South African rand and Botswana pula circulate in Zimbabwe.
The small French island of St. Pierre and Miquelon has the Canadian dollar as its de facto currency. [2]
The Hong Kong Dollar is widely accepted in Macau, even though it has not gained official recognition from Autoridade Monetária de Macau (AMCM) as legal tender in Macau. The Macauese Pacata is pegged to the Hong Kong Dollar at 1.029(buy)/1.032(sell). However, many merchants who accept Hong Kong Dollars may offer to pay the difference between two currencies, such practice is often called '不補水' in Chinese. If merchandise priced in Patacas is paid for in Hong Kong Dollars, and if merchants practice '不補水', prices in Patacas may be rounded up to the equivalent in Hong Kong Dollars, and merchants would offer change in Hong Kong dollars or the amount of Hong Kong Dollars paid would be automatically converted into Patacas and merchants would then offer change in Patacas.
The economy of Macau has remained one of the most open in the world since its handover to China in 1999. Apparel exports and gambling-related tourism are mainstays of the economy. Since Macau has little arable land and few natural resources, it depends on mainland China for most of its food, fresh water, and energy imports. Japan and Hong Kong are the main suppliers of raw materials and capital goods. Although Macau was hit hard by the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis and the early 2000s recession, its economy grew approximately 13.1% annually on average between 2001 and 2006. Macau is a full Member of the World Trade Organization. Public security has greatly improved after handover to the People's Republic of China. With the tax revenue from the profitable gambling industry, the Macau government is able to introduce the social welfare program of 15 years of free education to all Macau citizens. In 2015, Macau's economy saw a sharp decrease due to the reduced spending by visitors from Mainland China since the Anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping.
Currency substitution is the use of a foreign currency in parallel to or instead of a domestic currency.
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 cent is a monetary unit of many national currencies that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit.
The Hong Kong dollar is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong dollar.
In macroeconomics, hard currency, safe-haven currency, or strong currency is any globally traded currency that serves as a reliable and stable store of value. Factors contributing to a currency's hard status might include the stability and reliability of the respective state's legal and bureaucratic institutions, level of corruption, long-term stability of its purchasing power, the associated country's political and fiscal condition and outlook, and the policy posture of the issuing central bank.
In public finance, a currency board is a monetary authority which is required to maintain a fixed exchange rate with a foreign currency. This policy objective requires the conventional objectives of a central bank to be subordinated to the exchange rate target. In colonial administration, currency boards were popular because of the advantages of printing appropriate denominations for local conditions, and it also benefited the colony with the seigniorage revenue. However, after World War II many independent countries preferred to have central banks and independent currencies.
The Macanese pataca or Macau pataca is the currency of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is subdivided into 100 avos, with 10 avos called ho (毫) in Cantonese.
The Monetary Authority of Macao is the currency board and the de facto central bank of Macau. The regulatory institution was established on December 20, 1999, upon the transfer of sovereignty over Macau from Portugal to the People's Republic of China as the Macau Special Administrative Region.
Tourism is a major industry in Macau. It is famous for the blend of Portuguese and Chinese cultures and its gambling industry, which includes Casino Lisboa, Macau, Sands Macau, The Venetian Macao, and Wynn Macau.
The issue of banknotes of the Hong Kong dollar is governed in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the governmental currency board of Hong Kong. Under licence from the HKMA, three commercial banks issue their own banknotes for general circulation in the region. Notes are also issued by the HKMA itself.
The pataca was a monetary unit of account used in Portuguese Timor between 1894 and 1958, except for the period 1942–1945, when the occupying Japanese forces introduced the Netherlands Indies gulden and the roepiah. As in the case of the Macanese pataca which is still in use today, the East Timor unit was based on the silver Mexican dollar coins which were prolific in the wider region in the 19th century. These Mexican dollar coins were in turn the lineal descendants of the Spanish pieces of eight which had been introduced to the region by the Portuguese through Portuguese Malacca, and by the Spanish through the Manila Galleon trade.
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cents, and authorized the minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color.
The international status and usage of the euro has grown since its launch in 1999. When the euro formally replaced 12 currencies on 1 January 2002, it inherited their use in territories such as Montenegro and replaced minor currencies tied to pre-euro currencies, such as in Monaco. Four small states have been given a formal right to use the euro, and to mint their own coins, but all other usage outside the eurozone has been unofficial. With or without an agreement, these countries, unlike those in the eurozone, do not participate in the European Central Bank or the Eurogroup.
The United States dollar was established as the world's foremost reserve currency by the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944. It claimed this status from sterling after the devastation of two world wars and the massive spending of the United Kingdom's gold reserves. Despite all links to gold being severed in 1971, the dollar continues to be the world's foremost reserve currency. Furthermore, the Bretton Woods Agreement also set up the global post-war monetary system by setting up rules, institutions and procedures for conducting international trade and accessing the global capital markets using the US dollar.
 | This economics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |