Launch of the 200-Cent Coin
Timor-Leste has as of today a new currency of 200 cents, with a value equivalent to two US dollars, which aims to reduce dependence on — and the high replacement cost of — lower-denomination notes.
The currency was launched at a ceremony at the Central Bank’s headquarters in Dili, chaired by Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araújo, four years after the launch of the 100-cent coin in 2013. It joins the 100, 50, 25, 10, 5 and 1 cent coins already in circulation in a country where the official currency is the US dollar.
Why the New Coin?
Abraão de Vasconselos, Governor of the Central Bank, explained the rationale: “The cost of repatriating one-dollar, five-dollar, and ten-dollar bills — which are damaged — is very high. Our goal is to continue to reduce spending on currency use.”
Sara Brites, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, added that the new coin will “help significantly reduce the annual cost that the Government has to replace the 1, 5 and up to $10 bills — the most used and most quickly damaged.”
The country currently has approximately 16 million dollars’ worth of coins in circulation, and it is expected to distribute around 6 million in the new 200-cent coins in the coming years. Timor-Leste must import all the coins and notes in use, which — in the case of US currency — represents a significant security and logistics cost.
Design and Specifications
With a diameter of 25.5 millimetres and a weight of 8.46 grams, the coin has a central golden core and a silver outer ring — identical in format to the 100-cent coin.
On its main face, like the other Timorese coins, the 200-cent coin features the kaibauk — the traditional head adornment used in Timor-Leste. The reverse features Matebian, the second-highest mountain in Timor-Leste and a refuge for resistance fighters during the Indonesian occupation, alongside a buffalo and a rice field — central elements of national culture and economy. The buffalo is also the main symbol of the Central Bank’s logo.
Broader Context
Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araújo welcomed the efforts of the Central Bank in recent years to help strengthen the Timorese economy, including its role as guarantor of the management of the Petroleum Fund — the main source of state funding.
Coins were minted at the Mint in Portugal until last year and are now being minted in Australia.