Gibraltar pound

Gibraltar pound
ISO 4217
Code GIP
Denominations
Subunit
 1/100 Penny
Plural Pounds
 Penny Pence
Symbol £
 Penny p
Banknotes £5, £10, £20, £50, £100
Coins 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p,
£1, £2, £5
Demographics
User(s)  Gibraltar (alongside pound sterling)
Issuance
Government Government of Gibraltar
 Website www.gibraltar.gov.gi
Valuation
Inflation 0.0%, February 2015.
 Source The World Factbook, 2005
Pegged with pound sterling at par

The Gibraltar pound (currency sign: £; banking code: GIP) is the currency of Gibraltar. It is pegged to – and exchangeable with – the British pound sterling at par value. The central bank controlling the GIP, with responsibility of minting coins and printing notes, is the Government of Gibraltar.[1]

History

Until 1872, the currency situation in Gibraltar was complicated, with a system based on the real being employed which encompassed British, Spanish and Gibraltarian coins. From 1825, the real (actually the Spanish real de plata) was tied to the pound at the rate of 1 Spanish dollar to 4 shillings 4 pence (equivalent to 21.67 pence today). In 1872, however, the Spanish currency became the sole legal tender in Gibraltar.[2] In 1898, the Spanish–American War made the Spanish peseta drop alarmingly and the pound was introduced as the sole currency of Gibraltar, initially in the form of British coins and banknotes.

In 1898, the British pound was made sole legal tender, although the Spanish peseta continued in circulation until the Spanish Civil War.[2] Since 1927, Gibraltar has issued its own banknotes and, since 1988, its own coins. Gibraltar decimalised in 1971 at the same time as the UK, replacing the system of 1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence with one of 1 pound = 100 (new) pence.

Relationship with the British pound

The Currency Notes Act of 1934[3] confers on the Government of Gibraltar the right to print its own notes, and the obligation to back and exchange each printed note with sterling reserves at a rate of one pound to one pound sterling. Although Gibraltar notes are denominated in "pounds sterling", they are not legal tender in the United Kingdom. Gibraltar's coins are the same weight, size and metal as British coins, although the designs are different, and they are occasionally found in circulation across Britain.

British coins and Bank of England notes circulate in Gibraltar and are universally accepted and interchangeable with Gibraltarian issues.

Coins

1 pound
Obverse Reverse

In 1988, coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 pence and 1 pound were introduced which bore specific designs for and the name of Gibraltar. They were the same sizes and compositions as the corresponding British coins, with 2 pound coins introduced in 1999. A new coin of 5 pounds was issued in 2010 with the inscription "Elizabeth II · Queen of Gibraltar".[4] This issue caused controversy in Spain, where the title of King of Gibraltar historically corresponds to the crown of Castile.[5]

Depiction of Gibraltar coinage | Reverse side
£ 0.01 £ 0.02 £ 0.05
Barbary partridge
Europa Point Lighthouse
Barbary macaque and
Gibraltar candytuft
£ 0.10 £ 0.20 £ 0.50
Europort
Our Lady of Europe
Bottlenose dolphins
£ 1.00 £ 2.00
Fortress and Key
Pillars of Hercules

The £2 coin has featured a new design every year since its introduction, as it depicts each of the 12 Labours of Hercules.

Tercentenary edition

In 2004 the Government of Gibraltar minted a new edition of its coins to commemorate the tercentenary of British Gibraltar (1704-2004).

£ 0.01 £ 0.02 £ 0.05
Barbary macaque
Keys of Gibraltar
Constitution Order (1969)
£ 0.10 £ 0.20 £ 0.50
Operation Torch (1942)
Discovery of Neanderthal
skull in Gibraltar (1848)
Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
£ 1.00 £ 2.00
Great Siege of Gibraltar
(1779-1783)
Capture of Gibraltar
(1704)
Third series of Gibraltar coinage | Reverse side
£ 0.01 £ 0.02 £ 0.05
Constitution Order (1969)
Operation Torch (1942)
Barbary ape
£ 0.10 £ 0.20 £ 0.50
The Great Siege (1779-1783)
The Keys of Gibraltar
Our Lady of Europe
£ 1.00 £ 2.00 £ 5.00
Discovery of the Neanderthal Skull in Gibraltar (1848)
Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
Rock of Gibraltar

Banknotes

At the outbreak of World War I, Gibraltar was forced to issue banknotes to prevent paying out sterling or gold. These notes were issued under emergency wartime legislation, Ordinance 10 of 1914. At first the typeset notes were signed by hand by Treasurer Greenwood, though he later used stamps. The notes bore the embossed stamp of the Anglo-Egyptian Bank Ltd. and circulated alongside British Territory notes.[6] The 1914 notes were issued in denominations of 2 and 10 shillings, 1, 5 and 50 pounds. The 2 shilling and 50 pound notes were not continued when a new series of notes was introduced in 1927. The 10 shilling note was replaced by the 50 pence coin during the process of decimalization. In 1975, 10 and 20 pound notes were introduced, followed by 50 pounds in 1986. The 1 pound note was discontinued in 1988. In 1995, a new series of notes was introduced which, for the first time, bore the words "pounds sterling" rather than just "pounds". The government of Gibraltar introduced a new series of banknotes beginning with the 10 and 50 pound sterling notes issued on July 8, 2010. On May 11, 2011, the 5, 20 and 100 pound sterling notes were issued.[7]

Circulating banknotes 2010-2011 Issue
Image Denomination Dimensions Dominant colour Description
Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse
£5 133 x 70 mm Green Queen Elizabeth II,
Coat of Arms of Castle with Key 		Upper Ward and Tower of Homage of the Moorish castle
£10 141 x 75 mm Blue Queen Elizabeth II,
Coat of Arms of Castle with Key 		Artist John Trumbull’s “The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar” depicting Spanish and English troops fighting and General George Eliott with officers attending to the dying Don José de Barboza during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-83;
£20 150 x 80 mm Orange Queen Elizabeth II,
Coat of Arms of Castle with Key 		HMS Victory returning to Gibraltar being towed by HMS Neptune after the Battle of Trafalgar
£50 157 x 85 mm Red Queen Elizabeth II,
Coat of Arms of Castle with Key 		Casemates Square buildings
£100 164 x 90 mm Purple Queen Elizabeth II,
Coat of Arms of Castle with Key 		King's Bastion
Current GIP exchange rates
From Google Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From Yahoo! Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From XE: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From OANDA: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From fxtop.com: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD

See also

References

  1. ↑ "GIP". Investopedia. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 Bond, Peter (2003). 300 Years of British Gibraltar 1704-2004. Peter-Tan Publishing Co. p. 89.
  3. ↑ Government of Gibraltar (June 1934). "Currency Notes Act" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  4. ↑ 'Queen of Gibraltar' in new coin, Panorama, 7 May, 2010
  5. ↑ Polémica en ámbitos diplomáticos por la asistencia de la reina doña Sofía a los actos de homenaje a Isabel II: consideran que puede perjudicar los intereses soberanos españoles, El Confidencial Digital, 6 May 2012
  6. ↑ Linzmayer, Owen (2012). "Gibraltar". The Banknote Book. San Francisco, CA: www.BanknoteNews.com.
  7. ↑ Gibraltar new note family now complete
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