HISTORY OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC’S BANK NOTES

The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic was created on October 9, 1947, pursuant to Monetary Law No. 1528.  It began operations on October 23 of that year, acting as a decentralized and autonomous organization.  It is the only institution authorized to issue banknotes and coins within the Dominican territory.

The first national banknotes were issued in denominations of RD$1 peso, RD$5 pesos and RD$10 pesos. They followed a design similar to US dollar notes, insofar as size and features are concerned, and were printed by the American Bank Note Company beginning in 1947.

In addition to ordering the issuance of these banknotes, the State Council ordered the printing of fractional banknotes or “paper coins” in denominations of 50, 25 and 10 cents.  The first edition of these fractional banknotes was printed at the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic in December 1961 the only time banknotes were printed in the country.  The second edition of these fractional banknotes was printed in January 1962, by the American Bank Note Company in the US.

The second edition of national banknotes was printed in 1962.  The banknotes were red, with a design similar to those of the first edition.  Only the RD$1-peso banknote was issued in the years 1962-1964, with similar color to previous editions.  The first- and second-edition of Dominican banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in 1967.

The third edition of banknotes was issued in 1966. These banknotes had a more modern design than past editions, using a different color and several hues for each denomination printed.  One particular detail about these banknotes was that the signature of the Governor of the Central Bank and the Secretary of State of Finance were printed in black ink, as well as the serial numbers of the banknotes.    This edition was withdrawn from circulation in 1998.

The fourth edition of the banknotes, designed with the technological improvements of the times, was issued in 1977.  The signatures were included in Intaglio printing and the mahogany flower, the national flower, was added to the banknotes.  The first banknote issued under these parameters was the RD$100-peso banknote, until all seven denominations were included.  This banknote issuance is currently in circulation together with the fifth edition, o new banknote family.

This new family of banknotes has several modifications which include changes in the emblem and other commemorative changes, as well as enhanced security features, in order to defeat counterfeits made by means of color copies and scans.  The RD$5-peso banknote ceased to be issued in 1997, substituted by the RD$5-peso coin.  Dominican banknotes corresponding to the years 1977 to 1998 have the following images and colors:

As designated by Articles 3 and 4 of Monetary Law No. 1528 dated October 9, 1947 and their amendment, a proposed law was presented to the Executive Power providing for a change in the design of the bank banknotes upon their fifth edition.  The banknotes would additionally include the new $2000 peso denomination, commemorative of the new millennium. This was approved by means of law No. 212-99 dated May 13, 1999, which authorized the Central Bank to make the proposed changes in the currency in circulation as of December 1999.

The banknotes within this fifth edition, belonging to what is referred to as the new family, have the following images and colors:

In 1992, numismatic technicians from the Central Bank proposed the printing and subsequent circulation of a series of banknotes commemorating the Quincentennial of the Discovery and Evangelization of the Americas.  The first banknote issued within this series was the RD$500 peso banknote, which was the only one designed entirely by Dominicans.  Later, other RD$1000, RD$500 and RD$20-peso banknotes were issued, but these only included inscriptions allusive to this celebration.