Papua New Guinea adopted polymer for its banknote series well ahead of most Pacific nations, and this 2021 issue continues a run of polymer 20 Kina stretching back to the mid-1990s. Note Printing Australia has been the sole printer for this denomination throughout that period — an unusually long and exclusive relationship for a Pacific central bank.
The kina itself was introduced in 1975, coinciding with independence, replacing the Australian dollar at par. That clean one-to-one conversion was politically tidy but economically optimistic; the kina has depreciated substantially against the Australian dollar in the decades since.
Papua New Guinea adopted polymer for its banknote series well ahead of most Pacific nations, and this 2021 issue continues a run of polymer 20 Kina stretching back to the mid-1990s. Note Printing Australia has been the sole printer for this denomination throughout that period — an unusually long and exclusive relationship for a Pacific central bank.
The kina itself was introduced in 1975, coinciding with independence, replacing the Australian dollar at par. That clean one-to-one conversion was politically tidy but economically optimistic; the kina has depreciated substantially against the Australian dollar in the decades since.