Currency

Official name: East Caribbean dollar

Currency code: XCD

Abbreviation: $ or EC$

Pegged with: US$1 = EC$2.7

Legal tender in: Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Subdivided into: cents

Coins: 1, 2, 3, 10, 25 cents and 1 dollar

Notes: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 dollars

Central bank: Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

Website: www.eccb-centralbank.org

Current exchange rates:

• http://finance.yahoo.com/currency,

• http://www.xe.com and

• http://www.oanda.com

Eight of the nine members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States including Saint Vincent and the Grenadines share the use the East Caribbean dollar. The East Caribbean dollar was first used in 1965 and has been pegged to the United States dollar at US$1 = EC$2.7 since 1976. The East Caribbean dollar is divided into 100 cents.

Privacy

At this time St. Vincent and the Grenadines has not signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement; it has, however, signed a Mutual Assistance Treaty with the United States. Moreover, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not a participant in the European Union Savings Directive. As such, St. Vincent and the Grenadines offers a high level of privacy for both American and EU citizens. Furthermore, despite having signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the United States, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has not done anything to suggest that is not serious about protecting the privacy of its offshore investors. Nevertheless, American investors ought to be aware that their asset security is questionable thanks to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.