The Aruban florin
Currency · AWG · 1 country
The Centrale Bank van Aruba has issued the florin since 1986, when Aruba obtained its Status Aparte within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The florin replaced the Netherlands Antillean guilder at par, and it was pegged to the US dollar when it became the island's official currency. The bank prints the notes on its own authority and puts out the coins for the Aruban government.
No sign of its own
The florin has no sign of its own in the Unicode data behind this page, so the code AWG stands in. In Aruba amounts are written with Afl., short for Arubaanse florin, placed before the figure: Afl. 25, Afl. 200. The cent is written with the ordinary ¢.
- ISO code
- AWG
- ISO number
- 533
- Subunit
- cent, 1/100
An amount, written out
AWG 1,234.50
- AWG 1,234.50English
- Afl. 1.234,50DutchAruba
Where the Aruban florin is the official currency
Aruba, a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands since its Status Aparte, pays in the florin on its own, with the currency held to the US dollar.
About the Aruban florin
Who issues the florin and for whom
The Central Bank Ordinance gave the Centrale Bank van Aruba the job of issuing florin banknotes. Coins sit on a different footing. The bank issues them on behalf of the government, and since 1986 it has also issued a set of circulation coins every year, each built on a theme: historic buildings in 2001, prehistoric rock art in 2006, reptiles in 2011, flowers in 2013.
In Dutch the currency is the Arubaanse florin and in Papiamento the florin Arubiano. English sources also call it the Aruban guilder.
Why Aruba left the Antillean guilder
Aruba took its Status Aparte in 1986 and stayed inside the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a country of its own. Until then the island had used the Netherlands Antillean guilder, which the florin replaced one for one. Separate status brought a separate currency, and the florin is the only money on Aruba's record.
What the notes have shown since the first series
The bank issued transitional notes from 1986 to 1989, in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 florin. In 1990 it replaced them with a colourful family drawn by the Aruban artist Evelino Fingal, then director of the Archaeological Museum. He paired decorative motifs from pre-Columbian pottery with animals found on the island: a conch on the 10, a rattlesnake on the 25, a burrowing owl on the 50 and a frog on the 100. A 500-florin note with a red grouper followed in 1993. Joh. Enschedé en Zonen printed both sets in the Netherlands.
The 2003 printing kept those designs and added security features against counterfeiting, along with a raised mark on the front of each note for readers with poor sight.
The bank changed the look in 2019. The series, called Life in Aruba, runs from 10 to 200 florin, the 200 being a new value, and carries a green sea turtle, a troupial, a red land crab, a green iguana and a crested caracara, with landmarks and Amerindian pottery on the backs. It went into circulation on 4 June 2019. The 2003 notes stopped being legal tender on 11 August that year, and the IMF reported that more than 85% of the old notes came back before they were withdrawn. The International Bank Note Society named the 100-florin note its Banknote of the Year for 2019.
Why the square coin was retired
The coins arrived in 1986 at 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents, 1 florin and 2½ florin. Fingal designed them and the Nederlandse Munt struck them. In 1995 a square 5-florin coin took the place of the 5-florin note, and the 2½-florin coin later left circulation.
The square five proved too easy to counterfeit. In 2005 the bank swapped it for a round, gold-coloured coin made of a copper alloy, while every other value is struck in nickel-bonded steel. That left the 50-cent piece as the only square coin in the set. The 1, 2½ and 5-florin coins carry a profile of the monarch of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on one side.
Common questions
Questions about the Aruban florin
Is the Aruban florin the same as a guilder?
It is sometimes called the Aruban guilder in English, but it is a separate currency from the Netherlands Antillean guilder it replaced. Aruba swapped the Antillean guilder for the florin at par in 1986, the year the island obtained its Status Aparte within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Until when can old Aruban banknotes be exchanged?
The 2003 series stopped being legal tender on 11 August 2019, and commercial banks took the notes until 4 December of that year. After that the Centrale Bank van Aruba redeems them itself, until 11 August 2049. The older notes of the 1990 and 1993 series follow a separate deadline: the central bank's own guidance says they can be changed for new notes at its counter until 31 January 2034.
Why is the Aruban 50 cent coin square?
It is the one square coin still in the set. A second square coin, the 5 florin, replaced the 5-florin note in 1995, but it proved too easy to counterfeit, and in 2005 the central bank swapped it for a round, gold-coloured coin in a copper alloy. The other coins are struck in nickel-bonded steel.
What animals appear on the Aruban florin notes?
Each series has used the island's own fauna. The 1990 family by Evelino Fingal showed a conch, a rattlesnake, a burrowing owl and a frog, with a red grouper added on the 500 in 1993, all set against motifs from pre-Columbian pottery. The 2019 Life in Aruba series moved to a green sea turtle, a troupial, a red land crab, a green iguana and a crested caracara. The central bank ran a campaign called Streanan di Aruba, or Stars of Aruba, that dressed these animals up as celebrities to introduce the notes.