Gibraltar pound

Gibraltar pound
ISO 4217 code	GIP
Government	Government of Gibraltar
Website	www.gibraltar.gov.gi
User(s)	Gibraltar (alongside pound sterling)
Inflation	2.9%
Source	The World Factbook, 2005
Pegged with	pound sterling at par
Subunit
1/100	Penny
Symbol	£
Penny	p
Plural	Pounds
Penny	Pence
Coins	1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2, £5
Banknotes	£5, £10, £20, £50, £100

The Gibraltar pound (currency sign: £; banking code: GIP) is the currency of Gibraltar. It is exchangeable with the British pound sterling at par value.

History

Main article: Gibraltar real

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. In 1898, the Spanish–American War made the Spanish peseta drop alarmingly and the pound was introduced as the sole currency of the colony, 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. 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 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 Britain, but they are in theory exchangeable at par for British notes at banks; in practice, at least one major British bank will not accept or exchange Sterling notes issued by the Government of Gibraltar^{[citation needed]}, and others will do so at below par, as with most currency exchange. 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 in Britain.

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

Tourists from Great Britain are strongly advised to change their unspent Gibraltar pounds into British currency at parity in Gibraltar before departure as those British banks which will accept them charge for exchanging the Gibraltar Pound^{[citation needed]}.

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".

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
Discovery of the Neanderthal Skull in Gibraltar (1848)	Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

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. 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.

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.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From OANDA.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From fxtop.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD

See also

• Economy of Gibraltar
• Coins of the Gibraltar pound
• Currency board
• Highest-valued currency unit
• Christopher Ironside, OBE, coin designer: reverse design of the 25 New Pence coin, Barbary Ape (issued 1971).

References

• Krause, Chester L., and Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1801–1991 (18th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501. 
• Pick, Albert (1994). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer (editors) (7th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9.