BANKNOTES OF BELIZE
Known also as British Honduras prior to independence in 1973 when it was renamed Belize.
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Date Pick# Denomination Observations Obverse Reverse
1997 62 50 Dollars  
Obverse Design: Queen Elizabeth II
Reverse Design: Bridges of Belize


The history of the Belize Dollar.
The British Honduras dollar was first introduced in 1894 and the value was linked to that of the U.S. dollar at par. Prior to this coins and banknotes of the United States and Britain circulated in Belize. Though at par with the American dollar, in 1949 the value of the British Honduras dollar was linked to that of the British pound sterling at a rate of $4.80 to one pound, at the time the value of the British pound was fixed with the U.S. dollar at $4.80/£1.00.

In 1973 the British Honduras attained independence from Britain and the name was changed to Belize. The Belize Dollar replaced the British Honduras dollar in 1974 at par. Like the Government of British Honduras, the Government of Belize held the monopoly on the issue of banknotes and coins until 1976 when the Monetary Authority of Belize was created. In 1981 the Central Bank of Belize was formed and has been the sole issuer of banknotes and coins in Belize from its inception until today. The ISO 4217 code for the Belize dollar is BZD. The value of the Belize dollar is now pegged to the U.S. Dollar at a rate of two Belize dollars for one American dollar.

At present banknotes are issued in denominations of $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. The one dollar note has been replaced by a coin. Coins currently come in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 cents and 1 dollar. Due to historical value of the 25 cent coin being close to one British shilling, the 25 cent coin is nicknamed a “shilling”, this name remains in strong use up to this day.


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Page created:     20 June 2006
Last Update:      29 June 2006

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