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New Taiwan dollar
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<p>The New Taiwan dollar (<a href="/facts/ISO_4217/tk7Y5uh6">code</a>: TWD; <a href="/facts/Currency_symbol/cCPm1sPP">symbol</a>: NT$, also abbreviated as NT), or simply the Taiwan dollar, is the official <a href="/facts/Currency/g5GPGfTe">currency</a> of the <a href="/facts/Taiwan/VcJoUD8w">Republic of China</a> (Taiwan). Usually, the <a href="/facts/Dollar_sign/4CroUuPn">$</a> sign precedes the amount, but NT$ is used to distinguish from other currencies named <a href="/facts/Dollar/Mp3qLdHp">dollar</a>. The New Taiwan dollar has been the currency of the <a href="/facts/Geography_of_Taiwan/4BtYR5Hh">island of Taiwan</a> since 1949, when it replaced the <a href="/facts/Old_Taiwan_dollar/rrwPFGQ3">old Taiwan dollar</a>, at a rate of 40,000 old dollars per one new dollar. The base unit of the New Taiwan dollar is called a <a href="/facts/Yuan_(currency)/nKWFcvr2">yuan</a> (圓), subdivided into ten <a href="/facts/Jiao_(currency)/CFlJKXjX">chiao</a> (角) or 100 <a href="/facts/Fen_(currency)/PbouuM7x">fen</a> (分), although in practice neither chiao nor fen are used. </p><p>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 <a href="/facts/Chinese_character/5pn1PFvj">character</a> as 元, except when writing it for legal transactions such as at the bank, when it has to be written as the <a href="/facts/Homophone/6zEo7t7c">homophonous</a> 圓. Colloquially, the currency unit is called both 元 (<i>yuán</i>, literally "circle") and 塊 (<i>kuài</i>, literally "piece") in <a href="/facts/Taiwanese_Mandarin/3lFodHAV">Mandarin</a>, 箍 (<i>kho͘</i>, literally "hoop") in <a href="/facts/Taiwanese_Hokkien/C8257EsU">Hokkien</a>, and 銀 (<i>ngiùn</i>, literally "silver") in <a href="/facts/Taiwanese_Hakka/JlsPjDFs">Hakka</a>. </p><p>The <a href="/facts/Central_Bank_of_the_Republic_of_China_(Taiwan)/9zY0KXQy">Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan)</a> has issued the New Taiwan Dollar since 2000. Prior to 2000, the <a href="/facts/Bank_of_Taiwan/95ayvrwY">Bank of Taiwan</a> issued <a href="/facts/Banknote/mm6H2XI4">banknotes</a> as the <i><a href="/facts/De_facto/3Du6WQKh">de facto</a></i> 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. </p>