The House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament has approved the introduction of the US dollar on the islands of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba. This means that on 1 January 2011 the Netherlands Antillean guilder will be replaced by the American dollar.
Currency changeover
On 1 January 2011 the US dollar will become the legal tender on the islands of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba. Netherlands Antillean guilders will continue to be accepted for cash payments until 1 February 2011. After that, it will still be possible for guilders to be converted into dollars, but it will no longer be possible to make payments in guilders. On 1 January 2011 all bank balances will automatically be converted into dollars. The exchange rate used for the conversion will be the fixed exchange rate between the
Netherlands Antillean guilder and the American dollar, which has been in place since 1971.
On 10 October 2010 Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba will become part of the Netherlands and will acquire new constitutional status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Tax system
The House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament has also agreed to the proposal that the existing tax system in the Netherlands Antilles should be maintained during the intervening period from 10 October 2010 to 1 January 2011, when this temporary transitional measure will be replaced by a new tax system for the three BES islands. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the legislative proposals required to bring this about (the BES Tax Act, the BES Customs and Excise Act, and the BES Tax System Implementation Act) following the forthcoming elections.