The government of Belize has announced that there will be a change in the country’s bank notes. According to a press release on the Government of Belize Press Office site, the new currency in Belize will start circulating in June-July 2025.
For many years, Queen Elizabeth has appeared on currency in Belize, and after the death of the monarch, there was a good deal of speculation about whether Belize would switch the image on its currency from Elizabeth to to the new king; however, this speculation has come to an end with the government and the Central Bank publicly unveiling the new currency for Belize.
In this article, we take a look at the history of currency in Belize, and we examine the lives of the Belizeans who are set to take the place of Queen Elizabeth on the new bank notes.
History of money and currency in Belize: Mayan barter and Early European settlement
According to the Central Bank of Belize, during the Mayan period, from around 200-1000 AD, there was essentially a barter system in place:
These first inhabitants of Belize bartered for goods using cacao beans, bones, jade, and tiny figurines as money.
When early European settlers arrived, they used British currency for money transactions. It is believed that the earliest law passed about currency dates to June 1784, when Jamaican currency was established as legal tender in Belize. This law was enforced for sixty years.
In 1849, the copper coin of the United Kingdom became legal tender, and in 1853, the Superintendent of the British colony, Sir Philip Wodehouse, proclaimed that United States dollars would also be accepted.
The Central Bank history describes a mixed-money situation in the mid-1800s with Spanish, Mexican, and Colombian coins in circulation. The use of money in Belize continued in this manner until it changed in 1884, when the government attempted to consolidate into a dollar system.
However, things did not go smoothly when the government first attempted to consolidate currency in Belize under a single system, as there are reports that this change of currency set off a riot in December of 1884.
Coins and currency of British Honduras
Up until October 1894, there were no bank notes legally circulating in Belize. The coins which were used were from South and Central America, and US Silver Dollars were also used, along with the various denominations of English – silver and bronze – coins.
Up to 1894, there was no paper currency. By Ordinance No. 31 of 1894, the currency was established on a gold basis. Legal tender was established as local subsidiary currency of 50 cent, 25 cent, 10 cent, and 5 cent silver pieces; a nickel bronze 5 cent piece and a bronze cent piece; alongside the American Dollar and the British sovereign and half-sovereign.
At the same time that the coins in Belize were standardized, the Central Bank of Belize recounts the introduction of the first paper currency in Belize:
Local notes were issued in the following denominations: 1, 2, 5, and 10 dollars. The issue was fully secured by a Gold Reserve and Invested Funds. The custody and care of Currency Funds of the Colony was vested in a body appointed by the Governor in Council and styled by the Commissioners of Currency. The Board of Commissioners of Currency (Currency Board) operated from 1894 to 1976.
Central Bank of Belize
Mid 1900s: British monarchy appears on currency in Belize
After the establishment of the Currency Board, there was continued standardization of paper currency in Belize, and the designs evolved to include the British Monarchy.
The Monetary Authority of Belize
In 1976, yet another law was passed, the Monetary Authority Ordinance, which established the Belize Monetary Authority. The transition from the Currency Board to the Belize Monetary Authority created the way for the start of a domestic money market. Notably, in June 1977, the Belize Monetary Authority set the minimum and maximum selling rate for commercial banks, and the new family of notes featured a young Queen Elizabeth II.
Central Bank of Belize
Finally, The Central Bank of Belize was established in January 1982. And in 1983, the Central Bank of Belize put into circulation its first issue of banknotes bearing the words “Central Bank of Belize.” This issue under the Central Bank of Belize maintained the design of the banknotes produced by the Monetary Authority of Belize. These are the notes with which we are familiar today.
The design theme of these notes highlighted Belize’s birds, animals, marine life and buildings. The Central Bank is the authority which continues to upgrade its family of banknotes to make them more secure against advancing technologies, and they are in charge of releasing the new series of banknotes, which will, for the first time in many years, not display an image of the British monarch.
Who will replace Queen Elizabeth on the new currency in Belize?
When the new bank notes are introduced in June, instead of the queen’s image, the new 100, 20, and 5 dollar notes will have the image of George Cadle Price on them. Even many casual visitors to Belize may recognize the name George Price, as Belize celebrates a national holiday in his honor on January 15th each year.
The 50, 10, and 2 dollar notes will feature the image of Philip Goldson, a man whose name may also sound familar to casual visitors as the international airport near Belize City is named after him: The Philip Goldson International Airport, or PGIA.
When the designs for the new notes were unveiled Belize Prime Minister Johnny Briceño, said the new images “exemplify our national heroes who symbolize our resistance.”
According to an international story in the Guardian, Briceño went on to say:
“I know some people will say, ‘We don’t have the queen [on the note].’ Well, the queen has died, and that has nothing to do with the Belize dollar.”
“While the primary reason for this change was to incorporate technological advancements into new notes for increased security features and durability, it is one more way for us to remember the sacrifices of those who came before us. Each time we look at the faces of our national heroes on our new currency, we are seeing history, we are seeing leadership, we are seeing the great work that led us to where we are today,”
Prime Minister of Belize Johnny Briceño in the Guardian
Let’s take a brief look at each of these men to see why they were chosen to replace the queen on the new currency in Belize.
George Cadle Price appears on the new currency in Belize
George Cadle Price as born on 15 January 1919 and died at the age of 92 on 19 September 2011. He was a statesman who served as the head of government of Belize from 1961 to 1984 and again from 1989 to 1993.
Price was the first minister and premier under British rule until independence in 1981, and then he was the nation’s first prime minister after independence that year. Today, many people see Price as the “Father of the Nation.”
Price was the dominant force in Belizean politics from the early 1960s until his 1996 retirement from party leadership, having been the nation’s head of government under various titles for most of that period.
Interestingly, looking at George Price’s youth, one might not have believed that he would mature into one of the founders of an independent Belize. The eldest of 10 children, from a well-to-do family, Price was a devout Catholic and studied for the priesthood at seminaries in Mississippi and Guatemala City before deciding, at the age of 25, to go into politics.
With a group of former students from the exclusive St John’s College high school, Price won a seat on Belize City council in 1947, at a time of growing nationalist and labour unrest. This was Price’s start in politics, and his name would later became synonymous with the drive for Belizean self rule and independence from the UK.
George Price never married, had no children, and he lived a simple life. As prime minister in the early 1980s, he lived in a one-room home and drove around in a battered old Land Rover. Now, while never having had a family of his own, Mr. Price is being honored as one of the founding father’s of his nation, as he will appear on the bank notes of his beloved, independent Belize.
Philip Goldson also appears on the new currency in Belize
Philip Stanley Wilberforce Goldson was born on 25 July 1923, and he died on 3 October 2001. Goldson was a newspaper editor, activist, and politician.
He served in the House of Representatives of Belize as member from 1965 to 1998 and twice as a minister. Interestingly, Goldson was a founding member of both of Belize’s current major political parties, the People’s United Party (PUP) in the 1950s and the United Democratic Party (UDP) in the 1970s.
Goldson started out in the British Honduras Civil Service where he worked from 1941 to 1947, and at the same time he started his career in journalism by doing editing work at the Civil Service Chronicle.
When the Belize nationalist movement got underway, Goldson wrote news items for the Belize Billboard, and the problems faced by workers in Belize led him into trade unionism. He became the national organizer of The General Workers’ Union in 1949, and later he became its general secretary.
All was not smooth sailing for Goldson, as in 1951, Goldson was convicted of “seditious intention” based on an article published in the Belize Billboard, which stated, “There are two roads to self government (Independence). Evolution and Revolution. We are now trying evolution.”
The colonial government held that the words were implying the intention to try revolution if evolution did not succeed. Goldson, when convicted, was sentenced to one year of hard labor. While in prison, he taught his fellow inmates to read and write.
As a politician, in 1954, Goldson won a seat in the newly created British Honduras Legislative Assembly, where he was appointed the member with responsibility for Social Services. His portfolio included Labor, Housing and Planning, Health, Education, and Social Welfare and Community Development. During this period he coordinated the rebuilding of Corozal Town after its destruction in 1955 by Hurricane Janet.
Goldson also pioneered the village council system, enacted a new education ordinance making primary education free, and granted government assistance to secondary schools for the first time, and he initiated a special allowance for retired teachers who up to then did not enjoy pension benefits.
In 1956, Goldson resigned from the George Price’s dominant PUP political party. And Goldson would serve the rest of his political career in opposition to Price and the PUP.
Goldson was the sole member of the opposition party in the Belize legislature from 1961 to 1974. Modern Belize historians have written that Goldson single-handedly kept the two party system alive in Belize when many everyday people were beginning to distrust their government.
While Mr Goldson had been married and had five children in Belize, in 1972, he left Belize and moved to London to study law; however, his wife neither accompanied him nor did she remain in Belize. Goldson’s wife, Hadie, took her children and moved to New York City.
When Goldson returned to Belize in 1974 at age 51, he was eventually admitted to the British Bar and began a new career practicing law. His wife did not return to Belize, and Ms. Emma Boiton entered Goldson’s life, and she would be considered his life partner and his “Political wife,” as the couple were together for over 25 years.
Due to Glaucoma, Goldson went blind in 1978, and in 1986 he was elected president of the Caribbean Association of the Disabled. In 1989, while he was still living, the Belizean government renamed the country’s international airport outside Belize City the Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport.
Final thoughts on the new currency in Belize
For the first time since the mid-1900s, well before Belize became an independent nation, with the introduction of its new bank notes in June-July 2025, an image of the British monarch will no longer appear on the currency in Belize.
While working on this article, I learned a number of things which were quite interesting to me. First, after the Government of Belize Press Office unveiled the new bank notes which will replace the current currency in Belize, I scanned both local news reports and social media forums.
While I had believed that many Belizeans would be happy to have two of the country’s founding figures depicted on their new bank notes, I quickly discovered that many folks were complaining that the new notes looked too much like Mexican Pesos and that they also feared the currency would be devalued along with the redesign. I could not believe how common these comments were across both local media and social media.
Next, while I had read a bit about George Price and Philip Goldson in the past, I also found some of the details surrounding the personal lives of these founding fathers of Belize to be fascinating. For example, in the modern political age, it is hard for one to imagine a serving prime minister living in a one-room house while serving in the country’s highest office. Also, the fact that Mr Price left the seminary and decided to run for office at age 25 was very interesting to me.
Some of the details of Philip Goldson’s life were equally surprising to me. First, the story of Goldson spending a year in prison for sedition was quite interesting, but even moreso, the fact that Goldson left Belize for London to study law at age 51, and then started a new career at 54, was something that I would never have expected. And, of course, the unusual situation with Goldson’s wife and kids leaving for New York City when he want to London, and Goldson then finding his “Political Wife” reads like something out of a really good political drama series.
Finally, I hope that you enjoyed the history I discovered while doing the research for this article. If you are looking for a way to spend some of the new currency in Belize when it begins to circulate, we have some tips for you in our Shopping in Belize article. Also, if you are interested in the cost of living in Belize, I opened the books on a full year of my life here in What is the Real Cost of Living in Belize?
And, if you are considering a move to Belize, you might want to check out our book: Belize FAQs: A detailed guide for those interested in moving to Belize. In the book, there are more than 150 pages of Belize FAQs at your fingertips. And Belize FAQs is available in both paperback and Kindle formats.