The Singaporean Dollar is the official currency of the country of Singapore. It has the currency code “SGD”, and is further divided into a hundred cents. It is distinguished by the dollar sign; to further differentiate it from other dollar currencies, though, the dollar sign is often preceded by the letter S.
The Singapore dollar was not always the currency used by the country. From 1845-1939, Singaporean money came in the form of Straits dollars. After that, Singapore shifted to Malayan dollars, until 1953 when a common currency between Singapore, Malaya, Brunei, Sarawak, and the British North Borneo called the “Malaya and British Borneo Dollar” entered the picture.
After a series of historical events which led to the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia – which it joined in 1963 – the country came up with its own currency through the creation of the Board of Commissioners of Currency (which was later on dissolved and replaced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore or MAS). In April 1967, the first series of Singapore Dollars – in the form of bank notes and coins – was introduced.
Cupro-nickel coins were launched in 1967 in the following denominations: 1 dollar, and 5, 10, 20, 50 cents. A 1-cent coin was likewise introduced; however, this was made of bronze. The second coin series was minted in 1985; this time, the coins were reduced in size. The 5-cent coin in this particular series was made from a mixture of aluminum and nickel. I
n 1987, the dollar coin followed suit. As with other currencies, the coins of Singapore likewise featured various images representative of the country, the most prominent of which is the Singaporean lion symbol. Currently, all the coins bear an image of the country’s Coat of Arms on its face and flower images on the reverse side.
As mentioned, bank notes were likewise introduced in Singapore. The first series of bills was called the “Orchid series”, which had the following denominations: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 10,000. The next series, the “Bird series”, introduced a 20-dollar bill in lieu of the 25-dollar note. Between the years 1985 and 1989, the “Ship series” was launched. The old denominations were retained except for the 20-dollar bill. In 1990, a new denomination – the 2-dollar note, was issued.