The Samoan tala
Currency · WST · 1 country
Tala is the Samoan word for dollar. Samoa brought the currency in on 10 July 1967, five and a half years after independence from New Zealand, and swapped two tala for each pound. The Central Bank of Samoa, created under a 1984 Act, is its sole provider today, and no other body may print or issue Samoan money.
No sign of its own
The tala has no sign of its own. Amounts are written with the dollar sign, $100 tala, or as WS$ to tell it from other dollars; the W recalls Western Samoa, the country's name until 1997. SAT, ST and T are also seen. The sene is the hundredth, named after the cent.
- ISO code
- WST
- ISO number
- 882
- Subunit
- sene, 1/100
An amount, written out
WST 1,234.50
- WST 1,234.50English
- WS$1,234.50EnglishSamoa
Where the Samoan tala is the official currency
Samoa uses the tala by itself. From its launch in 1967 until 1975 it was worth exactly one New Zealand dollar.
About the Samoan tala
Who has issued Samoa's money
Before independence in 1962 the islands used the pound. New Zealand coins circulated, and the notes were treasury notes issued by authority of the New Zealand Government from 1922. The Bank of Western Samoa took over note issue in 1961 and issued the first tala notes in 1967. It was a commercial bank. The government owned part of it, and it ran currency operations for the state.
In the early 1970s the government wanted firmer control but saw little need for a central bank. It set up a Monetary Board of Western Samoa under a 1974 Act, and the board came into being early in 1975. By the late 1970s inflation was near 30% and foreign reserves were almost gone, and the government decided a separate, more independent institution should run monetary policy. The Central Bank of Samoa Act followed in 1984. The bank now supplies every note and coin. Defacing them is an offence.
How the tala took over from the pound
The tala replaced the pound at two to one, which made it equal to the New Zealand dollar. It stayed equal until 1975. The words are Samoan versions of English ones: tala for dollar, sene for cent. The tala is also traced to the German thaler.
Why the coins have shrunk
The first coins of 1967 matched New Zealand's in size. A 1974 series by James Berry took locally grown food plants as its theme. In 1984 a seven-sided 1 tala coin replaced the note, but it was bulky and heavy, and people went on preferring the paper version. In 2011 the Central Bank withdrew the 1, 2 and 5 sene coins, since they cost more to make than they were worth and had fallen out of use. A smaller series with new shapes followed: a 1 tala coin still seven-sided but reduced, and a scalloped 2 tala coin in bronze-plated steel that replaced the 2 tala polymer note.
What the notes put on show
The series De La Rue printed from 2008 runs from 5 to 100 tala. The 5 has a beach on the front and on the back Vailima, the house of Robert Louis Stevenson, whom Samoans called Tusitala, teller of tales. The 10 shows Samoa's rugby sevens team crowned champions at the Hong Kong Sevens and children walking to school. Sopoaga Falls, the manumea and the teuila flower are on the 20; the government complex at Matagialalua and the Central Bank on the 50; Malietoa Tanumafili II, head of state from 1962 to 2007, and the Mulivai cathedral on the 100.
A vertical 10 tala note in blue polymer marked the Pacific Games Samoa hosted in 2019. According to the Central Bank and De La Rue, the emissions from producing it were offset by buying carbon savings elsewhere. The bank has since moved the regular notes to polymer: the 5, 10 and 20 in December 2023 and the 50 and 100 on 8 December 2025, each with a clear window showing the teuila. A 60 tala note of June 2023 marks sixty years of independence.
Common questions
Questions about the Samoan tala
Why does Samoan money use WS$?
The W stands for Western, from Western Samoa, the country's official name until 1997. The tala shares the dollar sign with other currencies named dollar, so WS$ tells it apart. Samoa dropped the word Western from its name, but the old symbol stayed in use beside newer ones such as SAT, ST and T.
What does tala mean?
It is the Samoan form of dollar, just as sene is the Samoan form of cent. The word is also traced to the German thaler. The tala replaced the pound on 10 July 1967 at two tala to one pound, and until 1975 it was worth exactly one New Zealand dollar.
Whose house is on the Samoan 5 tala note?
Villa Vailima, the home of the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island. Samoans called him Tusitala, the teller of tales, and he lived on the islands for four years before his death in 1894. The front of the note shows a beach, and the note sits in the Central Bank's tourism theme. Since December 2023 it has also been printed on polymer, keeping the design and adding a clear window with the teuila flower.
Are old Samoan 1, 2 and 5 sene coins still in use?
No. The Central Bank of Samoa withdrew them from circulation in 2011, because each cost more to produce than it was worth and people had largely stopped using them. The same year brought a smaller coin series in new shapes, with a scalloped 2 tala coin in place of the old 2 tala polymer note and a reduced seven-sided 1 tala coin.