5 Gulden (Coronation of Queen Beatrix) – Netherlands Antilles

In 2005, the currency situation in the Netherlands Antilles was defined by its long-standing and unique monetary arrangement. The official currency was the Netherlands Antillean guilder (ANG), which had been pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate of 1.79 ANG = 1 USD since 1971. This peg was managed by the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (then the Bank of the Netherlands Antilles) and was a cornerstone of monetary policy, providing stability for trade and tourism, both vital to the islands' economies. The arrangement was part of a broader framework where the Netherlands Antilles, as an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, managed its own domestic affairs while relying on the Kingdom for defense and foreign policy.

However, this stability existed against a backdrop of significant political and economic change. The year 2005 fell within a period of ongoing constitutional restructuring within the Kingdom, as the larger islands moved toward a new political status. This created uncertainty about the future of the currency union, as the impending dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles as a political entity (scheduled for 2010) raised questions about whether the currency union would survive. Economically, the islands faced challenges including high public debt, particularly in Curaçao, which strained the credibility of the currency peg and prompted close supervision from the Dutch government to ensure fiscal discipline.

Consequently, discussions about the future of the currency were actively underway in 2005. The central debate focused on whether the islands should maintain the Antillean guilder and its dollar peg, adopt the US dollar directly, or even consider the euro. These discussions were intrinsically linked to the political negotiations about the new constitutional status, with different islands having varying economic priorities. Thus, while the currency itself was stable on the surface, 2005 was a year of pivotal deliberation that would ultimately lead to the guilder being succeeded by the Caribbean guilder in Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the US dollar in the BES islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba) after 2010.