Currency in Falkland Islands

One Falkland pound is made up of 100 pence, the ISO code is FKP and the abbreviation is Fl £.

The Falkland pound is the official currency of the Falkland Islands, but is also used in part on the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia.

The Falkland Islands, also called Malwinen, are a British overseas territory with internal autonomy in the Atlantic. The small archipelago lies near the Argentine coast and is a point of contention for Argentina and Great Britain, as both claim the oil-rich islands.

Because the Falkland Islands have just under 3,000 inhabitants and half as many soldiers stationed there and the Sandwich Islands and South Georgia are hardly populated either, the Falkland pound is only used by around 5,000 people, making it the least common currency in the world.

In addition, the pound sterling is also accepted as a means of payment on the Falkland Islands. The islands are visited by up to 60,000 tourists annually, but most of them are only day tourists and therefore do not change Falkland pounds for their stay and instead pay in British pounds.

Building the currency

There are eight coin values: 1 pence, 2 pence, 5 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence, 1 Falkland pound, 2 Falkland pound and four note values: 5 Falkland pound (red), 10 Falkland pound (green), 20 Falkland pounds (brown), 50 Falkland pounds (red, green and blue).

The English Queen is depicted on the notes and animal motifs can be found on the coins. The Falkland pound notes were introduced in 1921, but the Falkland pound coins were not added until 1974.

Change into local currency

Changing money with the Falkland pound is not that easy. There is only one bank on the Falkland Islands, namely the Standard Chartered Bank in the capital Stanley, where you can change money.

There are no ATMs on the islands. Outside the Falkland Islands, it is difficult to get hold of Falkland pounds or to exchange them.

Exchange rate

The Falkland pound is based on the sterling pound and is therefore tied to the British pound in a fixed ratio of 1: 1.

Therefore the exchange rate of the Falkland pound has always been subject to the same fluctuations as that of the British pound over the years.

The Falkland pound is therefore dependent on the British economy and is also influenced by Brexit.