Guyana P-30g 20 Dollars ND 2018 UNC—Waterfall (Kaieteur Falls)—Ferry

Guyana's 20-dollar note carries two of the country's most defining images — the thundering Kaieteur Falls, one of the world's most powerful and least-visited waterfalls, and the Ferry Vessel Malali, a symbol of the river infrastructure that holds this rainforest nation together. Printed by De La Rue in 2018, this uncirculated example captures Guyana at a pivotal moment — just as the world was beginning to realize what lay beneath its waters.

Banknote Characteristics

• Varieties: P-30 was issued from 1996 to 2025 across multiple signature combinations — the buyer will receive the P-30g (ND 2018) variety:
  • P-30a (1996) — Meredith & Jagdeo
  • P-30b.1 (1997) — Singh & Jagdeo (acting governor)
  • P-30b.2 (1999) — Singh & Kowlessar
  • P-30c (2006) — Williams & Kowlessar (acting governor)
  • P-30d (2006) — Williams & Kowlessar
  • P-30e (2009) — Williams & Singh; two printers: De La Rue and Canadian Bank Note Company
  • P-30f (2016) — Ganga & Singh
  • P-30g (2018) — Ganga & Jordan — this note
  • P-30h (2025) — Ganga & Jagdeo (Vice President)
• Front:
  • Colors: cream/pale yellow background; dark brown engraving throughout; orange-gold coat of arms shield; blue serial number; pink and pale green guilloche tints
  • Kaieteur Falls — photographic view (right portion)
  • Seal of the Bank of Guyana (center)
  • Large "$20" rosette guilloche panels (left and right)
  • Inscription: BANK OF GUYANA / TWENTY DOLLARS / THESE NOTES ARE LEGAL TENDER FOR THE PAYMENT OF ANY AMOUNT
  • Serial number C/07 123163 (ascending size, upper right and lower left)
  • Security thread with repeating "GUYANA" embedded
• Back:
  • Colors: pale peach/cream background; dark brown/black engraving throughout; orange-gold decorative swirl elements (left and right borders); pale yellow-green background tints
  • Shipbuilding scene — interior of shipyard with workers and vessel under construction (left)
  • Ferry Vessel Malali docking at port (right)
  • Captions: SHIP BUILDING; FERRY VESSEL MALALI
  • Inscription: BANK OF GUYANA / TWENTY DOLLARS
  • Printer credit: CANADIAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, LIMITED
• Watermark: Not specified
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 156 × 65 mm
• Issuing entity: Bank of Guyana
• Printer: De La Rue, London
• Demonetized: No — current legal tender
• Signatures: Dr. Bobind Ganga (Gov. B.O.G.) and Winston DaCosta Jordan (Minister of Finance)
• Currency: Guyanese dollar (decimalized, 1965–date)

About Guyana

• Capital: Georgetown (city pop. ~235,000; metro pop. ~320,000)
• Population: ~0.8 million (UN 2024) — similar to Alaska or Montenegro
• Area: 214,969 km² (83,000 mi²) — similar to Kansas or Romania
• GDP per capita at PPP: ~$28,000 USD (IMF 2024) — ranks ~78th out of 193 globally; one of the fastest-growing economies in the world following major offshore oil discoveries
• Main exports: Crude oil, gold, bauxite, sugar, rice, timber
• Borders: Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname
• Official/spoken language: English (official); Guyanese Creole (widely spoken)
• Sovereignty:
  • Pre-colonial — home to Arawak, Carib, and Warao peoples
  • Dutch colonial rule (1616–1796) — established sugar plantations using enslaved labor
  • British rule (1796–1966) — became British Guiana; slavery abolished 1834; indentured labor from India followed
  • Independence (1966) — as Guyana, first English-speaking country in South America to gain independence
  • Republic (1970–date) — this note issued during this period

Guyana Unfiltered

• Kaieteur Falls — on the front of this note — drops 226 meters in a single unbroken plunge, making it nearly five times the height of Niagara Falls. Almost no one has seen it in person.
• Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America — a Caribbean soul in a continental body, culturally closer to Trinidad than to Brazil.
• In 2015, ExxonMobil discovered one of the largest offshore oil reserves ever found. A country of 800,000 people suddenly had more oil per capita than Saudi Arabia.
• Over 80% of Guyana is covered by rainforest — one of the most intact in the world, largely because so few people live there.

The Waterfall Almost Nobody Has Seen

Kaieteur Falls is one of the most powerful waterfalls on earth. It carries the full force of the Potaro River over a sandstone cliff 226 meters high — a single, unbroken curtain of water so remote that it wasn't seen by a European until 1870, and most Guyanese have never visited it either. It sits deep inside Kaieteur National Park, accessible only by small aircraft or a multi-day jungle trek. Guyana put it on the 20-dollar note because it is, simply, the most extraordinary thing in the country — and one of the most extraordinary things on the continent.

A Country That Built Its Own Ships

The reverse tells a different story — not wilderness, but industry. The shipbuilding scene and the Ferry Vessel Malali represent Guyana's mid-20th-century ambition to build and operate its own maritime infrastructure along the Demerara and Essequibo rivers. In a country with more river than road, ferries were not transport — they were lifelines. The Malali connected communities that had no other link to the capital. Putting it on a banknote was an act of national pride in the unglamorous, essential work of keeping a country moving.

The Smallest Country With the Biggest Oil Story

When this note was printed in 2018, Guyana was already sitting on a secret. The offshore Stabroek Block — discovered in 2015 — had just been confirmed as one of the largest oil finds of the 21st century. A nation of 800,000 people was about to become one of the world's top oil producers per capita. This note predates that transformation. It is a document of Guyana as it was — quiet, forested, overlooked — before the world started paying attention.

Own This Note From Guyana, Before the World Noticed

You're holding a piece of pre-boom Guyana — a country on the edge of one of the most dramatic economic transformations in modern history. The Kaieteur Falls on the front hasn't changed. The rainforest is still there. But the country around this note has been permanently altered. In uncirculated condition, this is a pristine document of a moment that will not come again.

A small note from a small country that turned out to be sitting on an extraordinary secret.