The New Taiwan dollar (
code
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...
: TWD;
symbol
A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...
: NT$, also abbreviated as NT), or simply the Taiwan dollar, is the official
currency
A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...
of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
(Taiwan). Usually, the
$ sign precedes the amount, but NT$ is used to distinguish from other currencies named
dollar
Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...
. The New Taiwan dollar has been the currency of the
island of Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...
since 1949, when it replaced the
old Taiwan dollar
The Old Taiwan dollar was in use from 1946 to 1949, beginning shortly after Taiwan's Retrocession Day, handover from Japan to the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. The currency was issued by the Bank of Taiwan. Hyperinflation p ...
, at a rate of 40,000 old dollars per one new dollar. The base unit of the New Taiwan dollar is called a
yuan (), subdivided into ten
chiao () or 100
fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...
(), although in practice neither chiao nor fen are used.
There are a variety of alternative names for the units in Taiwan. The unit of the dollar is typically informally written with the simpler equivalent
character as , except when writing it for legal transactions such as at the bank, when it has to be written as the
homophonous . Colloquially, the currency unit is called both (''yuán'', literally "circle") and (''kuài'', literally "piece") in
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, (''kho͘'', literally "hoop") in
Hokkien
Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...
, and (''ngiùn'', literally "silver") in
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
.
The
Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan), known from 1924 to 2007 as the Central Bank of China and still referred to under the acronym CBC, is the central bank of Taiwan.
Originally founded in 1924 in Guangzhou, the CBC was expel ...
has issued the New Taiwan Dollar since 2000. Prior to 2000, the
Bank of Taiwan
The Bank of Taiwan (BOT; ) is a commercial bank headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. It was established in 1897-1899 as a Japanese policy institution or "special bank", similarly as the Nippon Kangyo Bank (est. 1897), Hokkaido Takushoku Bank (est. ...
issued
banknote
A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...
s as the ''
de facto'' central bank between 1949 and 1961, and after 1961 continued to issue banknotes as a delegate of the central bank. The central bank began issuing New Taiwan dollar banknotes in July 2000, and the notes issued by the Bank of Taiwan were taken out of circulation.
Terminology
The adjective "new" () is only added in formal contexts where it is necessary to avoid any ambiguity, even though ambiguity is virtually non-existent today. These contexts include banking, contracts, or foreign exchange. The currency unit name can be written as or , which are interchangeable. They are both pronounced ''yuán'' in
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
but have different pronunciations in
Taiwanese Hokkien
Taiwanese Hokkien ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...
(îⁿ, goân) and
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
(yèn, ngièn). The name in
Taiwanese Hokkien
Taiwanese Hokkien ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...
and
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
for cent is a loanword borrowed from English.
In English usage, the New Taiwan dollar is often abbreviated as NT, NT$, or NT dollar, while the abbreviation TWD is typically used in the context of foreign exchange rates. Subdivisions of a New Taiwan dollar are rarely used since practically all products on the consumer market are sold in whole dollars. Nevertheless, electronic transactions and bank statements can be expressed to 1 ''fen'' ($0.01).
History
The various currencies called yuan or dollar issued in China, as well as the
Japanese yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro.
Th ...
, were all derived from the
Spanish American silver dollar, which China imported in large quantities from
Spanish America
Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' Spanish Empire, imperial era between 15th and 19th centur ...
through
Spanish Philippines
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
** Spanish history
** Spanish cultur ...
in the
Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade
The Manila galleon (; ) refers to the Spanish trading ships that linked the Philippines in the Spanish East Indies to Mexico (New Spain), across the Pacific Ocean. The ships made one or two round-trip voyages per year between the ports of Man ...
from the 16th to 20th centuries. After the use of the
Spanish dollar
The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content fine silver. It w ...
and silver Chinese yuan in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, it issued the
Taiwanese yen
The was the currency of Japanese Taiwan from 1895 to 1946. It was on a par with and circulated alongside the Japanese yen. The yen was subdivided into 100 . It was replaced by the Old Taiwan dollar in 1946, which in turn was replaced by the New ...
in 1895, followed by the
Old Taiwan dollar
The Old Taiwan dollar was in use from 1946 to 1949, beginning shortly after Taiwan's Retrocession Day, handover from Japan to the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. The currency was issued by the Bank of Taiwan. Hyperinflation p ...
in 1946.
The Bank of Taiwan first issued the New Taiwan dollar on 15 June 1949 to replace the
Old Taiwan dollar
The Old Taiwan dollar was in use from 1946 to 1949, beginning shortly after Taiwan's Retrocession Day, handover from Japan to the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. The currency was issued by the Bank of Taiwan. Hyperinflation p ...
at a ratio of 40,000 to one. The first goal of the New Taiwan dollar was to end the
hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...
that had plagued
Nationalist China due to the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
.
After the communists captured Beijing in January 1949, the Nationalists began to retreat to Taiwan. The government then declared in the
that dollars issued by the Bank of Taiwan would become the new currency in circulation.
Even though the New Taiwan dollar was the
''de facto'' currency of Taiwan, statutes after 1949 still define the
silver yuan or
silver dollar as the legal currency, worth NT$3. Many older statutes have fines and fees given in silver yuan. Its value of NT$3 has not been updated despite decades of inflation, making the silver yuan a purely notional currency a long time ago, inconvertible to actual silver.
When the ''Temporary Provisions'' were made ineffective in 1991, the ROC lacked a legal national currency until the year 2000, when the Central Bank of China (CBC) replaced the Bank of Taiwan in issuing NT bills.
In July 2000, the New Taiwan dollar became Taiwan's legal currency. It is no longer secondary to the silver yuan. At this time, the central bank began issuing New Taiwan dollar banknotes, and the notes issued earlier by the Bank of Taiwan were taken out of circulation.
The exchange rate compared to the
United States dollar
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
has varied from less than ten to one in the mid-1950s, more than forty to one in the 1960s, and about twenty-five to one in 1992. The exchange rate as of July 2021 is NT$27.93 per US$.
Coins
The
denominations of the New Taiwan dollar in circulation are:
Coins are minted by the
Central Mint, while notes are printed by the
Central Engraving and Printing Plant. Both are run by the Central Bank. The 50¢ coin is rare because of its low value, while the NT$20 coin is rare because of the government's lack of willingness to promote it. As of 2010, the cost of the raw materials in a 50¢ coin was more than the face value of the coin.
Banknotes
The current series of banknotes for the New Taiwan dollar began circulation in July 2000. This set was introduced when the New Taiwan dollar succeeded the silver yuan as the official currency within Taiwan.
The current set includes banknotes for NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000, and NT$2,000. Note that the NT$200 and NT$2,000 banknotes are not commonly used by consumers. This may be due to the tendency of consumers to simply use multiple NT$100 or NT$500 bills to cover the range of NT$200, as well as using multiple NT$1,000 bills or credit/debit cards instead of the NT$2,000 bill. Lack of government promotion may also be a contributing factor to the general lack of usage.
It is relatively easy for the government to disseminate these denominations through various government bodies that do official business with the citizens, such as the post office, the tax authority, or state-owned banks. There is also a conspiracy theory against the
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
, the ruling party at the time the NT$200 and NT$2,000 denominations were issued. The conspiracy states that putting
Chiang Kai-shek on a rarely used banknote would "practically" remove him from the currency while "nominally" including him on the currency would not upset supporters on the other side of the political spectrum that much (the
Pan-Blue Coalition
The Pan-Blue coalition, Pan-Blue force or Pan-Blue groups is a political coalition in the Republic of China (Taiwan) consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), People First Party (PFP), New Party (CNP), Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU), and You ...
).
The year 2000 version $500 and 1999 version $1000 notes without holographic strip were officially taken out of circulation on 1 August 2007. They were redeemable at commercial banks until 30 September 2007. As of 1 October 2007, only
Bank of Taiwan
The Bank of Taiwan (BOT; ) is a commercial bank headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. It was established in 1897-1899 as a Japanese policy institution or "special bank", similarly as the Nippon Kangyo Bank (est. 1897), Hokkaido Takushoku Bank (est. ...
accepts such notes.
100-dollar commemorative note
On 6 January 2011, the Central Bank of the Republic of China issued a new 100-dollar legal tender circulating commemorative in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China. The red paper note measures 145 × 70 mm and features a portrait of Dr. Sun Yat-sen on the front and the Chung-Shan Building on the back. The design is no different from the ordinary NT$100 note, except for the Chinese wording on the reverse of the note, which reads "Celebrating 100 years since the founding of the Republic of China ()".
Exchange rates
See also
*
Old Taiwan dollar
The Old Taiwan dollar was in use from 1946 to 1949, beginning shortly after Taiwan's Retrocession Day, handover from Japan to the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. The currency was issued by the Bank of Taiwan. Hyperinflation p ...
*
Economy of Taiwan
Taiwan is a highly developed free-market economy. It is the 8th largest in Asia and 21st-largest in the world by purchasing power parity, allowing Taiwan to be included in the advanced economies group by the International Monetary Fund. Taiw ...
*
Taxation in Taiwan
Taxes provide an important source of revenue for various levels of the Government of the Republic of China. The tax revenue of Taiwan in 2015 amounted NT$2.1 trillion.
Tax administration
The Ministry of Finance, which is part of the Executive ...
*
History of the Republic of China
The history of the Republic of China began in 1912 with the end of the Qing dynasty, when the 1911 Revolution, Xinhai Revolution and the formation of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China put an end to 2,000 years of imperial ...
*
ROC consumer voucher
Notes
Words in different languages
References
External links
*
SinoBanknote*
an
*
*
ttp://benjamintsai.com/plog/2009/02/sun-yat-sen/ Close up image of a circulated 50 NT coin
*
Historical and current banknotes of Taiwan*
Taiwan coin catalog for collectors
{{Authority control
Currencies of Taiwan
Taiwan under Republic of China rule
Currencies introduced in 1949
Dollar
Currencies of Asia
Circulating currencies