5 Vatu canoe

Vanuatu's copper-plated steel coinage replaced earlier cupro-nickel issues as a cost-cutting measure — a shift common across Pacific island nations during the 2000s and 2010s as rising base metal prices made traditional compositions economically untenable for low-denomination circulation coinage. The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu, established only in 1980 following independence from the Anglo-French Condominium, has always sourced its coinage from foreign mints, with the Royal Australian Mint and others handling production at various points in the series.