Livatu

The Livatu is a unit used by the Turaga indigenous movement and the Tangbunia Bank in Vanuatu to reckon the worth of items of traditional currency such as pigs and textiles.

Livo derives from Proto-Oceanic *lipon, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian and Proto-Austronesian *lipen, a variant of *nipen/*ŋipen (compare Samoan nifo and Tagalog ngipin).

In September 2014, the Gaogogona Destiny Reserve System, an institution of the Turaga movement, announced plans to issue paper banknotes, referred to as tuvatu, to be used as an "indigenous currency".

Compared with the vatu coins and notes currently in circulation in Vanuatu, these banknotes represent extremely large amounts of money, reflecting Turaga's belief that the Western economic system undervalues local people's traditional assets.

[2] Turaga dispute this interpretation of the law, arguing that the Reserve Bank Act was intended only to prohibit counterfeiting of vatu, and that the tuvatu is an expression of the right to pursue traditional customs which is enshrined in the Vanuatuan constitution.