The Belize dollar
Currency · BZD · $ · 1 country
Two Belize dollars have been fixed to one US dollar since 1978, when British Honduras dropped its link to sterling. The Central Bank of Belize, set up on 1 January 1982, issues the currency, which went by the name British Honduras dollar until 1973. Its notes since 2025 carry the country's two National Heroes where the British monarch used to be.
The sign
Belize writes its money with the plain dollar sign, $, as the United States does. BZ$ separates it from other dollars wherever two currencies appear together, as in the peg of 1978, BZ$2 to US$1.
The same sign stands for 28 other currencies, among them the US dollar and the East Caribbean dollar.
- ISO code
- BZD
- ISO number
- 084
- Subunit
- cent, 1/100
An amount, written out
$1,234.50
- $1,234.50EnglishBelize
The sign in code
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UTF-8
- HTML
$$$- CSS
content: "\0024";- JavaScript
"\u0024"- UTF-8
0x24- UTF-16
0x0024- UTF-32
0x00000024
Where the Belize dollar is the official currency
Belize uses it on its own. The National Heroes series is all the Central Bank of Belize has issued since August 2025, and the 1990 family stays legal tender.
About the Belize dollar
Who has issued the currency since the colony
A Board of Commissioners of Currency held the colony's currency funds from 1894 to 1976, appointed by the Governor in Council. Its note issue was secured by a gold reserve and invested funds. The Monetary Authority Ordinance of 1976 replaced the board with the Belize Monetary Authority, which took over note issuance on 1 November 1976 and put out one issue under its own name, dated 1 June 1980.
The Central Bank of Belize succeeded it on 1 January 1982, under the Central Bank of Belize Act No. 15. Its first notes, in 1983, carried the bank's name on the Monetary Authority's designs.
Why the dollar tracks the United States
Belize has been through several monies. A law of 19 June 1784 made the Jamaica currency legal tender, and it stood for sixty years; United Kingdom copper became legal tender in 1849, and in 1853 the colony's Superintendent allowed US dollars. A currency change in 1884 set off a riot that December, the Central Bank records.
In the middle of the nineteenth century the colony counted in sterling, as Jamaica and Bermuda did. After the silver crisis of 1873 the silver peso of neighbouring Guatemala drove British coin out of circulation. Most imports came through New Orleans, and Ordinance No. 31 of 1894 put the currency on a gold basis tied to the US dollar, at $4.866 to the pound. The 25 cent coin was nicknamed a shilling because it came close to one in value.
The tie held through the crises that followed. When the United Kingdom left gold in 1931, British Honduras kept its US dollar link. When sterling was devalued in 1949 the local dollar rose against the pound, protests followed, and the dollar was devalued to 70 US cents. Sterling's devaluation of November 1967 took it to 60 US cents. In 1978 the link of BZ$4 to £1 was abandoned and the unit was pegged at BZ$2 to US$1.
What the notes and coins carry
Until 1894 the colony had no paper money. The government's first notes that year came in 1, 2, 5, 10, 50 and 100 dollars. The colony became Belize in 1973, and notes with the new name followed a year later. Bronze cents arrived in 1885, silver 5, 10, 25 and 50 cent pieces in 1894. The Royal Mint struck them. The cent took a scalloped edge in 1956. Aluminium 1 and 5 cent coins were introduced in 1976, and a ten-sided nickel-brass dollar coin in 1990.
In 1990 the Central Bank redesigned its notes around birds, animals, marine life and historic buildings, and adjusted them in 1998 and 2003. In July 2023 the decision was taken that future notes would not carry King Charles III. The National Heroes series of 2025 alternates portraits of George Cadle Price and Philip Goldson across six denominations, Goldson on the $2 and Price on the $100, with a holographic foil stripe, tactile marks for the visually impaired and colour-shifting threads. Since August 2025 it has been the only series the bank issues, and the 1990 family remains legal tender.
Common questions
Questions about the Belize dollar
Is the Belize dollar pegged to the US dollar?
Yes. Since 1978 the rate has been fixed at BZ$2 to US$1, after the old link of BZ$4 to £1 was abandoned. The tie to the US currency is older than the peg: an ordinance of 1894 put British Honduras on the gold US dollar, largely because most imports came through New Orleans.
Who is on the new Belize banknotes?
George Cadle Price and Philip Goldson, the two holders of the Order of the National Hero. Their portraits alternate across the six notes of the National Heroes series issued by the Central Bank of Belize in 2025, starting with Goldson on the $2 and ending with Price on the $100. The series replaced Queen Elizabeth II as the main portrait after a decision in July 2023 that future notes would not show King Charles III. The series also shows more than thirty images of Belize's plants and animals, archaeological sites and historic buildings, and notes of the 1990 family are still legal tender.
Why was the 25 cent coin called a shilling?
After 1894, when Ordinance No. 31 moved British Honduras from the silver Guatemalan peso to the gold US dollar at $4.866 to the pound, a 25 cent piece came close in value to a shilling sterling. People called it a shilling for that reason.