Gibraltar pound

The Gibraltar pound (currency sign: £; banking code: GIP) is the currency of Gibraltar. It is exchangeable with the UK pound sterling at par value.

History

Until 1872, the currency situation in Gibraltar was complicated, with a system based on the real being employed which encompassed British, Spanish and Gibraltarian coins. From 1825, the real (actually the Spanish real de plata) was tied to the pound at the rate of 1 Spanish dollar to 4 shillings 4 pence (equivalent to 21.67 pence today). In 1872, however, the Spanish currency became the sole legal tender in Gibraltar. In 1898, the Spanish–American War made the Spanish peseta drop alarmingly and the pound was introduced as the sole currency of the colony, initially in the form of British coins and banknotes.

In 1898, the British pound was made sole legal tender, although the Spanish peseta continued in circulation until the Spanish Civil War. Since 1927, Gibraltar has issued its own banknotes and, since 1988, its own coins. Gibraltar decimalised in 1971 at the same time as the UK, replacing the system of 1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence with one of 1 pound = 100 (new) pence.

Relationship with the British pound

The Currency Notes Act of 1934 confers on the Government of Gibraltar the right to print its own notes, and the obligation to back and exchange each printed note with sterling reserves at a rate of one pound...
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