East Caribbean Dollar - Circulation

Circulation

Six of the states using the EC$ are independent states: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The other two are British overseas territories: Anguilla and Montserrat. These states are all members of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. The only OECS member not using the East Caribbean dollar as their official currency is the British Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands were always problematic for currency purposes due to their proximity to the Danish West Indies which became the US Virgin Islands in 1917. Officially, the British Virgin Islands used to use sterling, but in practice the situation was a lot more complicated and involved the circulation of Francs and US dollars. In 1951, the British Virgin Islands adopted the British West Indies dollar which at that time operated in conjunction with the sterling coinage, and in 1961 they changed over officially to the US dollar, no doubt due to the close proximity of the US Virgin Islands. British Guiana and Barbados had previously been members of this currency union but withdrew in 1966 and 1972 respectively. Trinidad and Tobago had been a member of the earlier British West Indies currency union, but withdrew in 1964.

The combined population of the EC$ area is close to 600,000 (2005 and 2006 census and estimates), which is comparable to Montenegro or the American capital city of Washington, D.C..

Queen Elizabeth II appears on the banknotes and also on the obverse of the coins. She is the head of state of all the states and territories using the EC$, except for Dominica. Dominica is nevertheless a member of the Commonwealth of Nations which recognises Queen Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth.