Tropical Tongan island

You are here

Home

NZD to TOP Exchange Rate

Code TOP
Symbol T$
Coins
5¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢, T$1
Banknotes
T$1, T$2, T$5, T$10, T$20, T$50, T$100

Buying Tongan Paʻanga online

  • Budget planning tool

    Punch in your holiday deets below to use crowd-sourced Numbeo data* to help you plan your spending money.

  • No commission

    On foreign exchange rates when you order with Travel Money NZ.

  • Pick up locally

    With over 20 convenient store locations across New Zealand, you can securely pick up your TOP with no hassles.

Planning your trip to Tonga

Holiday Budget Calculator 

We get it, doing your holiday budget is a snore fest. It's important though, so we've made it super easy for you to do now. Just punch in your holiday deets and we'll combine destination spend data with our exchange rates so you know how much to take. Easy peasy budget donesy!

About the currency

Coins and notes

Tongan pa’anga (T$) is subdivided into 100 seniti (c). Coins in denominations of 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, and T$1 are currently in circulation. If you come across the rare 1c or 2c coin, keep them for your travel scrapbook – they may be worth a lot of money some day! Banknotes come in T$1, T$2, T$5, T$10, T$20, T$50, and T$100 varieties.

Facts about the currency

  • The pa’anga was introduced in 1967, replacing the pound at a rate of 1 pound = 2 pa’anga. Until early 1991, the pa’anga was pegged to the Australian dollar at par. Since then, a basket of currencies is taken (including the Australian, New Zealand, and United States dollars and the Japanese yen) and the pa’anga has continued to decline.
  • Pa’anga can also be measured by super-unit ‘hau’ (1 hau = 100 pa’anga). This unit isn’t used in daily life and can only be found on commemorative coins of higher values.
  • The word ‘pa’anga’ was originally only used as the native name for a bean-like vine that grew large pods with large seeds. These roundish seeds are strung together as anklets as part of the Kailao dance costume.
  • When Tongans attacked a passing ship (Port-au-Prince) in 1806 and the vessel sank, they searched the ship for valuables. They found the ship’s cash and, thinking it was pa’anga seeds, burned it. It was years before they realised it had been money in the ship.

The rates chart demonstrates how the Tongan pa’anga has performed against the New Zealand dollar in the past. Want more bang for your buck? No problemo. Just sign up for a currency alert to get more pa'anga in your pocket.

CREATE A CURRENCY RATE ALERT