The Liberian dollar
Currency · LRD · $ · 1 country
Two dollars change hands in Liberia. The Central Bank of Liberia issues the Liberian dollar, the country's official currency, and says the US dollar is legal tender used beside it. The Liberian dollar has been the country's currency since 1943, after spells under the British West African pound and under US money, and a first Liberian dollar had already run from 1847 to 1907.
The sign
Liberia writes its money with the ordinary dollar sign, $, the same character used by other dollar currencies. Where Liberian and US dollars need telling apart, amounts are written L$ or LD$, and the ISO code is LRD.
The same sign stands for 28 other currencies, among them the US dollar and the East Caribbean dollar.
- ISO code
- LRD
- ISO number
- 430
- Subunit
- cent, 1/100
An amount, written out
$1,234.50
- $1,234.50EnglishLiberia
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 Liberian dollar is the official currency
Liberia uses it beside the US dollar, which its central bank calls legal tender, while the ISO 4217 list names the Liberian dollar alone.
About the Liberian dollar
How the US dollar came to share the till
The first Liberian dollar, issued in 1847, started at par with the US dollar. Fiscal crises in the nineteenth century pushed the government to add paper money to its coins, and the paper lost value against the US dollar, which circulated alongside it. In 1907 Liberia adopted the British West African pound, pegged to sterling. US currency replaced that pound in 1935. From 1937 Liberia struck its own coins again, and they circulated alongside US notes.
The central bank's own description keeps that arrangement: the Liberian dollar is the official currency, and the US dollar is legal tender used beside it. The ISO 4217 list, which this catalogue follows, names the Liberian dollar alone for Liberia.
How the notes split the country in wartime
The coup of 12 April 1980 was followed by a flight of US dollar notes out of the country and a shortage of cash. The answer was a seven-sided five-dollar coin, the same size and weight as the one-dollar coin. In 1989 a five-dollar note took over from those coins. Modelled on the US greenback and carrying the portrait of Joseph J. Roberts, it became known as the J. J. note.
During the civil war of 1990 to 2004 the design changed, to cut off notes looted from the Central Bank. From 1991 the new Liberty notes carried Liberia's arms instead of the portrait. The result was two currency zones: Liberty notes were legal tender in government-held areas, mainly Monrovia, and J. J. notes in the rest of the country, and neither was accepted in the other's territory.
The split ended on 29 March 2000. A unified currency, dated 1999, was exchanged at par for J. J. notes and at one for two for Liberty notes.
What the banknotes show
The Central Bank of Liberia describes a portrait of a former president on the front of each note, and a scene of work on the back beside the bank's seal. Edward J. Roye's five carries women harvesting rice, the staple food. Joseph J. Roberts's ten shows a farmer on a rubber plantation. William V. S. Tubman appears on the twenty, Samuel K. Doe on the fifty with a palm plantation, and William R. Tolbert Jr on the hundred with a market trader and her child.
The notes had a minor redesign in 2003. A 2016 series added a 500 dollar note. In May 2021 the legislature authorised a new issue, and on 17 November 2021 the central bank announced it: the 5 and 10 dollar notes gave way to coins, and a 1,000 dollar note was added. Central Banking reported in October 2023 that every note printed before 2021 would lose legal tender status on 31 March 2024. In January 2022 the central bank burned L$669 million in damaged notes.
When Liberia struck its own coins
Copper 1 and 2 cent coins of 1847 and 1862 were the country's only coins until 1896, when a full set from 1 to 50 cents appeared. The last of those came in 1906. Coinage resumed in 1937 with half, 1 and 2 cents, grew in 1960 to 50 cents, and reached a one-dollar coin the year after. Five-dollar coins were struck in 1982 and 1985, and a new set of five and ten dollar coins arrived with the 2022 series.
Common questions
Questions about the Liberian dollar
Can US dollars be spent in Liberia?
Yes. The Central Bank of Liberia states that the Liberian dollar is the official currency and that the US dollar is also legal tender, used alongside it. The arrangement goes back a long way: US currency replaced the British West African pound in Liberia in 1935, and Liberia's own coins circulated beside US notes from 1937.
What were J. J. notes and Liberty notes?
Two rival versions of the Liberian five-dollar note. The J. J. note, introduced in 1989, carried the portrait of Joseph J. Roberts and was modelled on the US greenback. During the civil war the design was changed to shut out notes looted from the Central Bank of Liberia, and from 1991 the Liberty note carried the national arms instead. Liberty notes were legal tender in government-held areas, mainly Monrovia, while J. J. notes held elsewhere, and neither was accepted in the other's zone. On 29 March 2000 a unified currency replaced both, exchanged at par for J. J. notes and at one new dollar for two Liberty notes.
Are old Liberian banknotes still legal tender?
Notes printed before 2021 are not. Central Banking reported in October 2023 that the Central Bank of Liberia was withdrawing them and that they would lose legal tender status on 31 March 2024. The new series, authorised by the legislature in May 2021, replaced the 5 and 10 dollar notes with coins and added a 1,000 dollar note.
Whose portraits appear on Liberian dollar notes?
Former presidents. The central bank lists Edward J. Roye on the five, Joseph J. Roberts on the ten, William V. S. Tubman on the twenty, Samuel K. Doe on the fifty and William R. Tolbert Jr on the hundred. The backs show the bank's seal beside scenes of work: a rice harvest, a rubber plantation, a farm, a palm plantation, and a market trader with her child.