Singapore dollar

The Singapore dollar (sign: S$; code: SGD) is the official currency of the Republic of Singapore. It is divided into 100 cents. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign$, or S$to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issues the banknotes and coins of the Singapore dollar. As of 2022, the Singapore dollar is the 10th most-traded currency in the world by value. Apart from its use in Singapore, the Singapore dollar is also accepted as customary tender in Brunei according to the Currency Interchangeability Agreement between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (Monetary Authority of Brunei Darussalam). Likewise, the Brunei dollar is also customarily accepted in Singapore. The Spanish-American silver dollar brought over by the Manila galleons was in wide circulation in Asia and the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries. From 1845 to 1939 the Straits Settlements (of which Singapore used to be part) issued its local equivalent, the Straits dollar. This was replaced by the Malayan dollar, and, from 1953, the Malaya and British Borneo dollar, which were issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya and British Borneo. Singapore continued to use the common currency upon joining Malaysia in 1963 and after Singapore's independence from Malaysia in 1965, but the formal monetary union between Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei stopped in 1967, and Singapore established the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore, on 7 April 1967 and issued its first coins and notes. Nevertheless, the Singapore dollar was exchangeable at par with the Malaysian ringgit until 8 May 1973 under the Interchangeability Agreement, and interchangeability with the Brunei dollar is still maintained. Initially, the Singapore dollar was pegged to the pound sterling at a rate of two shillings and four pence to the dollar, or £1 = S$60/7 or S$8.57; in turn, £1 = US$2.80 from 1949 to 1967 so that US$1 = S$3.06.