5 Pa'anga

Tonga shifted to polymer for its banknote series in stages, and this 2023 issue continues that transition under the National Reserve Bank, which has operated as the country's central bank since 1989. De La Rue's polymer substrate here — branded as Safeguard — is produced under license from Note Printing Australia, though De La Rue handles the full printing and finishing in London. The "simulated security thread" is a printed optical effect rather than an embedded thread, a cost-driven compromise more common in lower-denomination polymer issues.

TBB#226 is recent enough that secondary market data on survival rates and variety detection remains thin.