What is the currency of Vanuatu?

The currency of Vanuatu is the Vanuatu vatu. Its ISO 4217 code is VUV, and it is commonly written with the symbol VT or Vt. Unlike many currencies, the vatu has no smaller subdivision such as cents.

Vanuatu introduced the vatu in 1981, one year after independence. It replaced the New Hebrides franc at par and ended the official circulation of the Australian dollar. The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu issues the country’s coins and banknotes.

The name “vatu” comes from a word meaning “stone” in several indigenous languages. Traditional valuables, including pigs, boar tusks, and woven mats, still have ceremonial importance in Vanuatu, but they do not replace the vatu in ordinary commercial transactions.

A common mix-up is confusing the vatu with nearby Pacific currencies such as the Fijian dollar or Solomon Islands dollar. Vanuatu’s large-number prices can also seem surprising: there are 100 vatu in a commonly used notional “dollar,” but that is only a local mental-conversion habit, not a separate currency.