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Money and costs
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The official currency of St Vincent and the Grenadines is the
Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$)
, although the US dollar is also widely accepted, as are major credit cards, at hotels and restaurants, and by car rental agencies and dive and tour companies. The EC$ is divided into 100 cents. Bills come in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 EC dollars; coins in 1, 2, 5, 10 and 25 cents. At the time of writing, the
rate of exchange
was roughly EC$2.70 to US$1.
There are plenty of banks on St Vincent, including Barclays Bank and Scotiabank on Halifax Street in Kingstown, both of which have ATMs. E.T. Joshua Airport has an exchange bureau which is open 8am-noon and 3-5pm on weekdays. There are also two banks on Bequia and a branch of the National Commercial Bank on Union Island; all have ATMs. Banking hours are generally Monday to Thursday 9am-3pm and Friday 9am-5pm; however, some banks close at 1pm. Hotels and restaurants will automatically add a 7 percent government tax and 10 percent service charge to your bill. Tipping is at your discretion, but not expected.
In St Vincent and the Grenadines a
departure tax
of EC$30 applies to stays longer than 24 hours. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Saint Vincent And The Grenadines |