The first banknotes were issued by the
Central Bank of Guatemala in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 100 quetzales, with quetzal notes added in 1933. In 1946, the Bank of Guatemala took over the issuance of
paper money, with the first issues being overprints on notes of the Central Bank. Except for the introduction of 50 quetzal notes in 1967, the denominations of banknotes remained unchanged until and 1 quetzal coins replaced notes at the end of the 1990s. In the top-right corner of the obverse face of each banknote, the value is displayed in
Mayan numerals, representing Guatemala's cultural history. The Bank of Guatemala has introduced a
polymer banknote of 1 quetzal on August 20, 2007, followed by a 5 quetzal polymer banknote on November 14, 2011. Both the 1 and 5 quetzal notes are once again on a paper substrate as of 2024. ==Out of circulation==