The Aruba florin is the currency of the island of Aruba, which, along with Bonaire and Curaçao, belongs to the ABC islands and the Lesser Antilles. Furthermore, Aruba is one of the four equal countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (next to Curaçao, Sint Maarten and of course the Netherlands itself).
Due to complete internal autonomy, the island also has its own currency.
Numbers, dates and facts
The Aruba florin is divided into 100 cents, its ISO 4217 code is AWG, the currency abbreviation is Afl.
The name of the currency in the national language Dutch is Arubaanse florin. In addition to the name Aruba florin, the currency is occasionally referred to as the Aruba florin, although the florin replaced it as the official currency in 1986.
Both currencies were or are linked to the US dollar, the exchange rate is 1 USD = 1.79 AWG (fixed), but the actual value is 1 USD = 1.75 AWG. The Aruba florin is therefore equivalent to the Antilles guilder.
The Aruba florin is issued by the Centrale Bank van Aruba based in Oranjestad, the island’s capital.
The currency is divided into the following denominations:
- Coins in 5, 10, 25, 50 cents, 1, 2½ and 5 florins
- Banknotes in 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 florins
The coins
When the currency was introduced in 1986, the florin was only issued as a coin in the denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50 cents and 1 and 2½ florins.
Only later was the 5 florin banknote replaced by a square coin, which in turn was replaced by a round golden coin in 2005, as the square variant was too easy to forge.
The reverse of the coins bears the face of the respective head of state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The profile of Queen Beatrix was therefore shown between 1986 and 2013, while King Willem-Alexander has been shown since 2014.
The 1, 2½ and 5 florin coins also bear the words “God Zij Met Ons” (“God be with us”).
The banknotes
The banknotes are adorned with the date of their first issue, which is January 1, 1986. In 1990 the Aruban artist Evelino Fingal was commissioned to make the original designs shine again in a more colorful design.
He orientated himself on old Indian paintings and pot shards. In 2003, new banknotes were printed that retained the artist’s design, but had new security measures to make counterfeiting more difficult.
Exchange into Aruba currency
Euros can only be exchanged in some hotels and exchange offices, mostly at very unfavorable rates. It is usually better to pay with US dollars or to exchange them for the local currency.
It is even cheaper to withdraw money in the local currency of Aruba with a credit card from an ATM of a larger bank. However, it is necessary to check beforehand whether your own bank charges fees for foreign use.