Belize switched its dollar coinage to nickel brass for the higher denominations in the early 2000s, a practical response to rising metal costs that had made the older cupro-nickel strikes increasingly expensive to produce relative to face value. The Central Bank of Belize, established in 1982 following independence from Britain in 1981, has maintained a fixed exchange rate of 2 Belize dollars to 1 US dollar since 1978 — a peg that has held without devaluation for over four decades, making the currency unusually stable by regional standards.
Belize switched its dollar coinage to nickel brass for the higher denominations in the early 2000s, a practical response to rising metal costs that had made the older cupro-nickel strikes increasingly expensive to produce relative to face value. The Central Bank of Belize, established in 1982 following independence from Britain in 1981, has maintained a fixed exchange rate of 2 Belize dollars to 1 US dollar since 1978 — a peg that has held without devaluation for over four decades, making the currency unusually stable by regional standards.