2 Vatu

Vanuatu's coinage system was created from scratch following independence from the Anglo-French Condominium in 1980, with the vatu replacing the New Hebrides franc at par with the CFP franc. The Reserve Bank issued its first coin series in 1983, and this denomination ran for nearly two decades without a design change — a quiet sign of monetary stability in a young island nation that had little of it politically during the same period.