The New Taiwan dollar (code: TWD; symbol: NT$) is the official currency of the Republic of China (Taiwan), used since 1949 when it replaced the old Taiwan dollar. The base unit, called a yuan (圓), is subdivided into ten chiao or 100 fen, though these smaller units aren’t commonly used. The currency is informally referred to by various names in local languages, including yuán (元) in Mandarin, kho͘ in Hokkien, and ngiùn in Hakka. Since 2000, the Central Bank of the Republic of China has issued the banknotes, succeeding the Bank of Taiwan.
Terminology
| Mandarin | Taiwanese Hokkien | Hakka | English | Symbol | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currency name | Formal | 新臺幣 (Xīntáibì) | 新臺票 (Sin-tâi-phiò) | 新臺幣 (Sîn-thòi-pi) | New Taiwan Dollar | NTD, TWD |
| Other | 臺幣 (Táibì) | 臺票 (Tâi-phiò) | 臺幣 (Thòi-pi) | |||
| Unit name | Formal | 圓 (yuán) | 箍 (kho͘ ) | 銀 (ngiùn), 箍 (khiêu) | dollar | $ |
| Other | 元 (yuán), 塊 (kuài) | |||||
| 1⁄10 Unit name | Formal | 角 (jiǎo) | 角 (kak) | 角 (kok) | dime | 角 |
| Other | 毛 (máo) | |||||
| 1⁄100 Unit name | 分 (fēn) | 仙 (sian) | 仙 (siên) | cent | ¢ | |
The adjective "new" (新) 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 圓 or 元, which are interchangeable. They are both pronounced yuán in Mandarin but have different pronunciations in Taiwanese Hokkien (îⁿ, goân) and Hakka (yèn, ngièn). The name 仙 in Taiwanese Hokkien and Hakka 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, were all derived from the Spanish American silver dollar, which China imported in large quantities from Spanish America through Spanish Philippines in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade from the 16th to 20th centuries. After the use of the Spanish dollar and silver Chinese yuan in Taiwan, it issued the Taiwanese yen in 1895, followed by the Old Taiwan dollar in 1946.
The Bank of Taiwan first issued the New Taiwan dollar on 15 June 1949 to replace the Old Taiwan dollar at a ratio of 40,000 to one. The first goal of the New Taiwan dollar was to end the hyperinflation that had plagued Nationalist China due to the Chinese Civil War.
After the communists captured Beijing in January 1949, the Nationalists began to retreat to Taiwan. The government then declared in the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion that dollars issued by the Bank of Taiwan would become the new currency in circulation.4
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$3.5 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.6 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 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$27.93 per US$.7
Coins
The denominations of the New Taiwan dollar in circulation are:
| Currently Circulating Coins | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Value | Technical parameters | Description | Date of | ||||
| Diameter | Weight | Composition | Obverse | Reverse | first minting | issue | ||
| [2] | 50¢ (NT$0.5) | 18 mm | 3 g | 97% copper 2.5% zinc0.5% tin | Mei Blossom, "中華民國XX年"8 | Value | 1981(Minguo year 70) | 1981-12-089 |
| [3] | NT$1 | 20 mm | 3.8 g | 92% copper6% nickel2% aluminium | Chiang Kai-shek, "中華民國XX年" | 1981-12-0810 | ||
| [4] | NT$5 | 22 mm | 4.4 g | Cupronickel75% copper25% nickel | Chiang Kai-shek, "中華民國XX年" | Value | 1981(Minguo year 70) | 1981-12-0811 |
| [5] | NT$10 | 26 mm | 7.5 g | |||||
| Chiang Kai-shek, "中華民國XX年" (1981-2010)Chiang Ching-kuo, "中華民國100年" (2011)Sun Yat-sen, "中華民國XX年" (2012–present) | Value, continuous hidden words "國泰", "民安", continuous hidden Taiwan island and Mei Blossom in "0" | 2011(Minguo year 100) | 2011-01-1112 | |||||
| [6] | NT$20 | 26.85 mm | 8.5 g | Bi-metallic:Ring: Aluminium bronze (as $50)Centre: Cupronickel (as $10) | Mona Rudao, "莫那魯道",13 "中華民國XX年" | Traditional canoes used by the Tao people | 2001(Minguo year 90) | 2001-07-09 |
| [7] | NT$50 | 28 mm | 10 g | Aluminium bronze92% copper6% aluminium2% nickel | Sun Yat-sen, "中華民國XX年" | Latent images of both Chinese and Arabic numerals for 50 | 2002(Minguo year 91) | 2002-04-2614 |
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
Main article: Fifth series of the new Taiwan dollar banknote
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 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).
| 1999 Series | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Value | Dimensions | Main Color | Description | Date of | Remark | ||||
| Obverse | Reverse | Watermark | printing | issue | withdrawal | |||||
| NT$100 | 145 × 70 mm | Red | Sun Yat-sen, "The Chapter of Great Harmony" by Confucius | Chung-Shan Building | Mei flower and numeral 100 | 2000(Minguo 89) | 2001-07-02 | |||
| [8][permanent dead link] | NT$200 | 150 × 70 mm | Green | Chiang Kai-shek, theme of land reform and public education | Presidential Office Building | Orchid and numeral 200 | 2001(Minguo year 90) | 2002-01-02 | Limited | |
| NT$500 | 155 × 70 mm | Brown | Youth baseball | Formosan sika deer and Dabajian Mountain | Bamboo and numeral 500 | 2000(Minguo year 89) | 2000-12-15 | 2007-08-01 | without holographic strip | |
| 2004(Minguo 93) | 2005-07-20 | with holographic strip | ||||||||
| NT$1,000 | 160 × 70 mm | Blue | Elementary Education(1999 errors1516) | Mikado pheasant and Yushan (Jade Mountain) | Chrysanthemum and numeral 1000 | 1999(Minguo year 88) | 2000-07-03 | 2007-08-01 | without holographic strip | |
| 2004(Minguo year 93) | 2005-07-20 | with holographic strip | ||||||||
| [9][permanent dead link] | NT$2,000 | 165 × 70 mm | Purple | FORMOSAT-1, technology | Formosan landlocked salmon and Mount Nanhu | Pine and numeral 2000 | 2001(Minguo year 90) | 2002-07-01 | Limited | with holographic strip |
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 accepts such notes.17
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 (慶祝中華民國建國一百年)".18
Exchange rates
Most traded currencies by valueCurrency distribution of global foreign exchange market turnover19- v
- t
- e
| Currency | ISO 4217code | Proportion of daily volume | Change(2019–2022) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2019 | April 2022 | |||
| U.S. dollar | USD | 88.3% | 88.5% | 0.2pp |
| Euro | EUR | 32.3% | 30.5% | 1.8pp |
| Japanese yen | JPY | 16.8% | 16.7% | 0.1pp |
| Sterling | GBP | 12.8% | 12.9% | 0.1pp |
| Renminbi | CNY | 4.3% | 7.0% | 2.7pp |
| Australian dollar | AUD | 6.8% | 6.4% | 0.4pp |
| Canadian dollar | CAD | 5.0% | 6.2% | 1.2pp |
| Swiss franc | CHF | 4.9% | 5.2% | 0.3pp |
| Hong Kong dollar | HKD | 3.5% | 2.6% | 0.9pp |
| Singapore dollar | SGD | 1.8% | 2.4% | 0.6pp |
| Swedish krona | SEK | 2.0% | 2.2% | 0.2pp |
| South Korean won | KRW | 2.0% | 1.9% | 0.1pp |
| Norwegian krone | NOK | 1.8% | 1.7% | 0.1pp |
| New Zealand dollar | NZD | 2.1% | 1.7% | 0.4pp |
| Indian rupee | INR | 1.7% | 1.6% | 0.1pp |
| Mexican peso | MXN | 1.7% | 1.5% | 0.2pp |
| New Taiwan dollar | TWD | 0.9% | 1.1% | 0.2pp |
| South African rand | ZAR | 1.1% | 1.0% | 0.1pp |
| Brazilian real | BRL | 1.1% | 0.9% | 0.2pp |
| Danish krone | DKK | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.1pp |
| Polish złoty | PLN | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.1pp |
| Thai baht | THB | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.1pp |
| Israeli new shekel | ILS | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.1pp |
| Indonesian rupiah | IDR | 0.4% | 0.4% | |
| Czech koruna | CZK | 0.4% | 0.4% | |
| UAE dirham | AED | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.2pp |
| Turkish lira | TRY | 1.1% | 0.4% | 0.7pp |
| Hungarian forint | HUF | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.1pp |
| Chilean peso | CLP | 0.3% | 0.3% | |
| Saudi riyal | SAR | 0.2% | 0.2% | |
| Philippine peso | PHP | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.1pp |
| Malaysian ringgit | MYR | 0.2% | 0.2% | |
| Colombian peso | COP | 0.2% | 0.2% | |
| Russian ruble | RUB | 1.1% | 0.2% | 0.9pp |
| Romanian leu | RON | 0.1% | 0.1% | |
| Peruvian sol | PEN | 0.1% | 0.1% | |
| Other currencies | 2.0% | 2.4% | 0.4pp | |
| Total20 | 200.0% | 200.0% | ||
See also
- Old Taiwan dollar
- Economy of Taiwan
- Taxation in Taiwan
- History of the Republic of China
- ROC consumer voucher
Notes
Words in different languages
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Money of Taiwan.- (in Chinese and English) SinoBanknote
- (in Chinese) Banknotes of Matsu, Quemoy and Tachen
- (in Chinese) The Central Bank page showcasing all obsolete issues of the new Taiwan dollar in all denominations
- Close up image of a circulated 50 NT coin Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- (in English, German, and French) Historical and current banknotes of Taiwan
- (in English) Taiwan coin catalog for collectors
| Preceded by:Old Taiwan dollarReason: inflationRatio: 1 new dollar = 40,000 old dollars | Currency of Taiwan 1949 – Note: After the communists took over most of Mainland China, the government of the Republic of China controlled only Taiwan and some offshore islands. | Succeeded by:Current |
References
Traditional Chinese script: 新臺幣Mandarin Pinyin: XīntáibìHokkien: Sin-tâi-pèSixian Hakka: Sîn-thòi-pi /wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters ↩
Chuang, Chi-ting (17 February 2001). "Legislator pans new bank notes". Taipei Times. p. 4. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/2001/02/17/74035 ↩
Han Cheung (9 June 2024). "Taiwan in Time: How the New Taiwan dollar became the national currency". Taipei Times. Retrieved 16 June 2024. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2024/06/09/2003819079 ↩
Chuang, Chi-ting (17 February 2001). "Legislator pans new bank notes". Taipei Times. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/2001/02/17/74035 ↩
"Regulation for the exchange rate between New Taiwan Dollars and the fiat currency in the laws of the Republic of China". https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Regulation_for_the_exchange_rate_between_New_Taiwan_Dollars_and_the_fiat_currency_in_the_laws_of_the_Republic_of_China ↩
Chuang, Chi-ting (17 February 2001). "Legislator pans new bank notes". Taipei Times. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/2001/02/17/74035 ↩
"US Dollar / New Taiwan Dollar". Google Finance. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021. https://www.google.com/finance/quote/USD-TWD ↩
"zhonghua minguo XX", "中華民國" is the also the state title "Republic of China", an era name of the Minguo calendar. /wiki/Minguo_calendar ↩
"中央銀行發行之貨幣及真偽鈔辨識". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2015. 中央銀行發行之貨幣及偵偽鈔辨識 https://web.archive.org/web/20081217152239/http://www.cbc.gov.tw/issue/money/tb1.htm ↩
"中央銀行發行之貨幣及真偽鈔辨識". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2015. 中央銀行發行之貨幣及偵偽鈔辨識 https://web.archive.org/web/20081217152239/http://www.cbc.gov.tw/issue/money/tb1.htm ↩
"中央銀行發行之貨幣及真偽鈔辨識". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2015. 中央銀行發行之貨幣及偵偽鈔辨識 https://web.archive.org/web/20081217152239/http://www.cbc.gov.tw/issue/money/tb1.htm ↩
"中央銀行發行之貨幣及真偽鈔辨識". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2015. 中央銀行發行之貨幣及偵偽鈔辨識 https://web.archive.org/web/20081217152239/http://www.cbc.gov.tw/issue/money/tb1.htm ↩
Mona Rudao, anti-Japanese leader of the Wushe Incident. /wiki/Mona_Rudao ↩
郭文平 (25 April 2007). 新版50元硬幣 明發行 (in Chinese). 自由時報. Retrieved 26 November 2007.[dead link] 新版50元硬幣 明發行 ↩
Commons:Category:Taiwan $1000 banknote 1999 edition https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Taiwan_$1000_banknote_1999_edition ↩
Taiwan's 1999 $1000 bill globe reversed http://jidanni.org/geo/nt1000/ ↩
劉姿麟、蔣紀威 (31 July 2007). 8/1新制/健保費漲價 金融機構舊鈔換新鈔延至9月底 (in Chinese). ETToday. Retrieved 20 August 2007. 8/1新制/健保費漲價 金融機構舊鈔換新鈔延至9月底 ↩
The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (6 January 2011). "Issue a commemorative NT$100 banknote for circulation and uncut commemorative NT$100 currency sheets in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China on January 6, 2011". http://www.cbc.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=37761&ctNode=752&mp=2 ↩
Triennial Central Bank Survey Foreign exchange turnover in April 2022 (PDF) (Report). Bank for International Settlements. 27 October 2022. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 October 2022. https://www.bis.org/statistics/rpfx22_fx.pdf ↩
The total sum is 200% because each currency trade is counted twice: once for the currency being bought and once for the currency being sold. The percentages above represent the proportion of all trades involving a given currency, regardless of which side of the transaction it is on. ↩