São Tomé and Príncipe (officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe) or Saint Thomas and Prince in English, is an island country located in the Gulf of Guinea. The official currency for São Tomé & Príncipe is the São Tomé & Príncipe dobra (STD). It is often shown locally with the symbol "Db." The currency is composed of 100 cêntimos, but due to inflation, cêntimos has been made virtually worthless. São Tomé and Príncipe was a Portuguese colony from 1470 and gained its independence in 1975. The escudo, the country’s previous currency, was replaced by the São Tomé & Príncipe dobra in 1977 at a rate of 1:1. The word dobra originates from the Portuguese word dóbra which means "doubloon".
Coins were struck in lower denomination dobras (one, two, and five) and cêntimos in 1977. Due to inflation, these coins have been made obsolete and the government issued new coins in 1997 with higher denominations to follow with the rising prices. The current denominations of the dobra include coins of 100, 250, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 dobras and banknotes of 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, and 100,000 dobras. The dobra was pegged to the euro (EUR) in 2010 at a fixed exchange rate of 1 EUR to 24,500 STD.
