The official currency of Vanuatu is the vatu and uses the currency code VUV. Interestingly unlike many other currencies, the vatu has no subdivisions, with 1 vatu being the smallest denomination of Vanuatu currency. The vatu was introduced one year into Vanuatu’s independence, in 1981. The vatu replaced the formerly used New Hebrides franc and ended the official circulation of the Australian dollar in Vanuatu. Many communities in Vanuatu continue to conduct business in a ceremonial fashion, paying each other using traditional items of value such as pigs, curved boars’ tusks or long dyed mats.