The Haitian gourde
Currency · HTG · 1 country
Haiti introduced the gourde in 1813 to replace the livre, at 8 livres and 5 sous to the gourde, then revalued it in 1870 and again in 1872. The name comes from the Spanish gordo, after the silver pesos gordos of colonial contracts. Since 1979 the Banque de la République d'Haïti has issued the notes, taking over from a bank founded under a foreign concession.
No sign of its own
The gourde has no currency sign in the locale data that browsers and phones use. Amounts are written with a G before the figure, as G5 or G1,000, or with the code HTG. Many prices are also given in Haitian dollars of five gourdes, a habit left by the 1912 dollar peg.
- ISO code
- HTG
- ISO number
- 332
- Subunit
- centime, 1/100
An amount, written out
HTG 1,234.50
- HTG 1,234.50English
- 1 234,50 GFrenchHaiti
In English the code comes before the amount. Where the Haitian gourde is used, it comes after the amount in Haiti.
Where the Haitian gourde is the official currency
Haiti uses the gourde. The ISO list names the US dollar beside it there, and many prices are still quoted in Haitian dollars of five gourdes.
Legal tender alongside it
About the Haitian gourde
Where the name gourde comes from
Colonial-era contracts in the Spanish sphere were often written in pesos gordos, the hard pieces of eight that French speakers called piastres fortes espagnoles. Gourde is the French cognate of gordo, and Haitian Creole spells it goud. The older name lingered: in the early years of the present gourde, notes sometimes said piastre, and an issue dated 1875 used it throughout.
How the gourde was revalued twice
The first gourde's silver coins, of 6, 12 and 25 centimes, were declared by the government to be worth far more than the metal in them. Bronze coins struck by the Heaton mint of Birmingham in 1863 were its last. In 1870 the gourde was revalued at ten to one, and only notes of 10 and 25 gourdes were issued for that second currency. Two years later a third gourde replaced it at three hundred to one, and that is the one in use today.
In 1881 the gourde was tied to the French franc, five francs to the gourde, and coins were struck again.
Why prices are still quoted in Haitian dollars
The franc link did not hold. In 1912 the gourde was pegged to the US dollar at five gourdes to the dollar, and the peg lasted until 1989, when the currency was left to float. The old rate survives in speech and on price tags. Five gourdes are called a Haitian dollar and five centimes a Haitian penny, and in many places a price is given in Haitian dollars, which a buyer multiplies by five to get the amount in gourdes. The Haitian dollar is a unit of speech only. The ISO list does name a real dollar for Haiti, the US dollar, beside the gourde.
Which banks have held the right to issue
A law of 26 April 1826 created a Banque d'Haïti, its statutes partly modelled on the Banque de France, with a capital of six million gourdes. It never opened. A concession of October 1874 for a Banque Nationale d'Haïti got as far as a finished building in Port-au-Prince, but the revolution that brought down the government of Michel Domingue swept the project away and its funds and furniture were looted.
On 30 July 1880 a contract signed in Paris gave the Société Générale de Crédit Industriel et Commercial the concession for a Banque Nationale d'Haïti with the exclusive right to issue notes. The public was hostile from the start. Its critics said it speculated on exchange and lent to the government instead of financing production. In October 1910 the concession passed to a French, German and American consortium, which formed the Banque Nationale de la République d'Haïti. That bank issued notes from 1916, came under full Haitian ownership in 1947, and in 1979 was split in two: a commercial bank, the Banque Nationale de Crédit, and a central bank, the Banque de la République d'Haïti.
What circulates now
Coin production stopped from 1908 until 1949. The coins now in circulation are the 50 centimes, 1 gourde and 5 gourdes, the last two added in 1995. The notes run 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000 gourdes. The 1,000 gourde note first appeared in 1999 for the 250th anniversary of the founding of Port-au-Prince, and in 2004 the central bank issued a series for the bicentennial of independence. Notes of 2,500 and 5,000 gourdes were planned as of 2024.
Common questions
Questions about the Haitian gourde
What is a Haitian dollar?
It is a way of counting, not a separate currency. From 1912 to 1989 the gourde was pegged to the US dollar at five gourdes to one dollar, and the habit stayed after the peg was dropped. Five gourdes are still called a Haitian dollar, and five centimes a Haitian penny. In many places prices are posted in Haitian dollars, so the figure on the tag has to be multiplied by five to give the amount in gourdes. It should not be confused with the US dollar, which the ISO list names beside the gourde for Haiti.
Why is Haiti's currency called the gourde?
Gourde is the French cognate of the Spanish gordo. Colonial contracts in the Spanish sphere were often written in pesos gordos, the hard silver pieces of eight, and the name passed to the currency Haiti introduced in 1813. In Haitian Creole it is spelled goud.
How many times has the gourde been replaced?
Twice. The first gourde, introduced in 1813 in place of the livre, lasted until 1870, when a second gourde replaced it at ten to one. That one survived two years. In 1872 a third gourde took over at three hundred to one, and it is still the currency. The early years of the third gourde were paper only, and some notes, including an issue dated 1875, called it the piastre. Coins came back in 1881, when the gourde was tied to the French franc at five francs to the gourde.
Who issues Haitian money?
The Banque de la République d'Haïti, created in 1979 when the Banque Nationale de la République d'Haïti was split into a commercial bank and a central bank. The older bank had issued notes since 1916, under a concession granted in 1910 to a French, German and American consortium; it became fully Haitian in 1947. Before that, from 1880, a Banque Nationale d'Haïti conceded under a contract signed in Paris held the exclusive right of issue.