Tongan paʻanga
| Tongan paʻanga | |
|---|---|
| Tonga paʻanga (Tongan) | |
1 paʻanga
|
|
| ISO 4217 | |
| Code | TOP |
| Denominations | |
| Superunit | |
| 100 | hau |
| Subunit | |
| 1/100 | seniti |
| Symbol | T$ (sometimes PT) |
| seniti | ¢ |
| Banknotes | T$1, T$2, T$5, T$10, T$20, T$50, T$100 |
| Coins | |
| Freq. used | 5¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢, T$1 |
| Rarely used | 1¢, 2¢ |
| Demographics | |
| User(s) |
 Tonga
|
| Issuance | |
| Central bank | National Reserve Bank of Tonga |
| Website | www.reservebank.to |
| Valuation | |
| Inflation | 4.5% |
| Source | The World Factbook, 2012 est. |
The paʻanga is the currency of Tonga. It is controlled by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga (Pangikē Pule Fakafonua ʻo Tonga) in Nukuʻalofa. The paʻanga is not convertible and is pegged to a basket of currencies comprising the Australian, New Zealand, United States dollars and the Japanese yen.
The paʻanga is subdivided into 100 seniti. The ISO code is TOP, and the usual abbreviation is T$ (¢ for seniti). In Tonga the paʻanga is often referred to in English as the dollar, the seniti as the cent and the hau as the union. There is also the unit of hau (1 hau = 100 paʻanga), but this is not used in everyday life and can only be found on commemorative coins of higher denominations.
Entada phaseoloides, native name paʻanga, is a bean-like vine producing large pods with large reddish brown seeds. The seeds are roundish, up to 5 cm diameter and 1 or 2 cm thick. When strung together they are used as anklets, part of the kailao dance costume. They were also used as playing pieces in an ancient disc-throwing game, lafo.
On 1 December 1806 Tongans attacked the passing ship Port-au-Prince in order to take it over. They failed, as the crew sank the vessel. The chief of Haʻapai, Fīnau ʻUlukālala, resorted to the next plan, to plunder whatever was worthwhile. On his inspection tour he found the ship's cash. Not knowing what money was, he considered the coins as paʻanga. Finally, not seeing anything of value, he ordered the remains of the ship to be burned. It was much later that William Mariner, the only survivor of this attack, told him that those pieces of metal were of great value and not merely playing stones.
When Tonga introduced decimal currency, it decided not to call the main unit the dollar because the native word, tola, translated into a pig's snout, the soft end of a coconut, or, in vulgar language, a mouth. Pa'anga, on the other hand, translated into money.
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Wikipedia