ST

Samoa's official currency is the tala. Each unit is worth 100 sene. In the Samoan language, the words tala and sene are the counterparts of the English phrases dollar and cent. To distinguish it from other currencies named dollar, it has the symbol $ or WS$. The German term "Thaler" is also the source of the word "tala," which is pronounced similarly. Following the country's political independence from New Zealand in 1962, the tala was first used on July 10, 1967. Up until that point, Samoa had been using its own currency, the pound, along with coins from New Zealand. The tala was used to replace the pound at a rate of 2 tala for every 1 pound, making it equal to the New Zealand dollar. Up until 1975, the tala and the New Zealand dollar were equal. Up until 1997, when the word Western was formally dropped and the nation's name was changed to Samoa, the Western part of the country's name was represented by the sign WS$ for the tala. As a result, it appears that the symbols SAT, ST, and T are also in use. The dollar sign and the word "tala" are sometimes written in front of numbers, as in $100 tala. The Central Bank of Samoa is responsible for issuing and overseeing samoan currency.