The Congolese franc

Which bank issues and prints the notes

The Banque Centrale du Congo, BCC, holds the exclusive right to issue the franc's banknotes. Its Treasury Directorate manages their distribution and condition and, at the end, their destruction: returned notes are counted, sorted and authenticated, and notes unfit for circulation are perforated and shredded.

The Hôtel des Monnaies prints the notes inside the country. Local production began in April 1987 with technical help from Giesecke & Devrient. By 1992 the staff was entirely Congolese.

How the first Congolese franc began

A franc divided into centimes and tied to the gold standard was created for the Congo Free State in 1887. Its General Treasury issued notes from 1896. After Belgium annexed the Free State in 1908 the currency carried on in the Belgian Congo at par with the Belgian franc, and from 1916 it also circulated in Ruanda-Urundi.

The franc outlived independence in 1960. Katanga, meanwhile, issued a franc of its own between 1960 and 1963. The Banque Nationale du Congo was set up by decree on 23 February 1961, yet it only became operational in 1964. In 1967 the zaire replaced the franc at one zaire to 1,000 francs, and a new zaire followed in 1993.

Whether the colonial franc was a currency at all

The 1908 Colonial Charter defined the money loosely in its Article 11. On that basis it has been argued that the Congolese franc did not exist in law between 1908 and 1960 and was only a token for a claim on Belgian francs. In daily use it was the sole currency across the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi.

How the franc came back after the zaire

The franc was re-established in 1997 at one franc to 100,000 new zaires, which equalled 300 trillion of the old francs. Notes reached circulation on 30 June 1998, although every one of them is dated 1 November 1997. That first issue ran from 1 centime to 100 francs, with 200 francs added in 2000 and 500 francs in 2002. On 2 July 2012 the BCC issued notes of 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 francs.

Why the franc has no coins

The second franc has no coins in circulation. Some were struck. But the metal in each was worth more than its face value. The centime, once a hundredth of the franc, no longer has any practical use. By February 2025 the cash in circulation was notes alone, from 50 to 20,000 francs.

What the banknotes show

The yellow 20,000-franc note carries giraffes and a Bashilele sculpture on the front, and oil-palm fruit with crowned cranes on the back. The watermark pairs a leopard with the value. A security thread is marked RDCongo, and the hologram holds a map and the letters BCC.