The official currency of Jamaica is the Jamaican dollar (JMD), which has been in use since 1969. Prior to the Jamaican dollar, the official currency was the pound sterling. The Jamaican dollar is subdivided into 100 cents, although cent denominations are no longer in use as of 2018. The currency is often abbreviated to J$ or JA$ . Jamaican bills (banknotes) come in denominations of 50, 100, 500, 1000, and coins are also in circulation. The Bank of Jamaica has exclusive rights to mint coins and produce banknotes in Jamaica. The history of currency in Jamaica is closely tied to the wider picture in the British West Indies, and the adoption of the Jamaican dollar followed the pattern of other countries like South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand in adopting the decimal system.