The Guinean franc
Currency · GNF · FG · 1 country
Guinea stopped using the CFA franc on 1 March 1960 and issued a franc of its own, through a bank created for the purpose and renamed the Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée in July 1961. The syli replaced it in 1972. The franc returned on 6 January 1986, one for one with the syli, after a 92% devaluation.
The abbreviation
FG abbreviates franc guinéen, the currency's French name, and French sources write amounts with it after the figure. The ISO list gives GNF no decimal places: the centime exists on paper, but Guinea has never issued one.
- ISO code
- GNF
- ISO number
- 324
- Fraction
- None, amounts are whole units
An amount, written out
FG 1,234
- FG 1,234English
- 1 234 FGFrenchGuinea
In English the sign comes before the amount. Where the Guinean franc is used, it comes after the amount in Guinea.
Where the Guinean franc is the official currency
Guinea issues this franc for itself, outside the CFA franc it gave up in 1960, and its 1986 return came at a fixed 300 to the US dollar before weekly auctions took over.
About the Guinean franc
Why Guinea left the CFA franc
Guinea voted no in the referendum of 28 September 1958 and became independent on 2 October, yet it kept the CFA franc until 1960. The economist Benoît Lootvoet puts the switch on 1 March 1960 down to political and symbolic reasons more than economic ones. Guinea's neighbours in the West African monetary union stayed with the CFA franc.
The new franc was defined as 0.0036 grams of gold and set at par with the CFA franc. It could not be taken out of the country or brought in, and foreign currency, the CFA franc included, could not leave either. The Banque de la République de Guinée, created alongside the currency, became the Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée under decree 276/PRG/61 of 27 July 1961. The central bank counts five monetary reforms since, each with its own family of notes.
What the syli changed
A reform of 2 October 1972 replaced the franc with the syli, divided into 100 cauris, at ten francs to one syli. Lootvoet records it trading at a steep discount on the parallel market. In June 1977 its gold definition gave way to a rate against the IMF's special drawing right, and on 17 April 1981 the notes in circulation were withdrawn and replaced once more, a step Lootvoet says was also meant to let the central bank count how much cash existed.
How the franc came back
On 6 January 1986 the syli was demonetised and the Guinean franc became the national currency again, exchanged one for one. The same reform carried a devaluation of 92% across the whole economy at a fixed 300 francs to the US dollar, and the state banks were all closed that month. From 28 January a weekly currency auction among the commercial banks, run by the central bank, set the rate on the second market. The two rates were unified on 1 June 1986.
Which notes and coins carry the franc
The first notes of the restored franc ran from 25 to 5,000 francs and print the date of issue large in the lower left corner of each note. A 1998 series dropped the 25 and 50 franc notes, which coins had replaced. Later additions include a 10,000 franc note on 11 June 2007, a 20,000 franc note on 11 May 2015 and a 2,000 franc note on 1 March 2019, the currency's anniversary. The notes are printed in the United Kingdom by De La Rue.
Coins are made of cupronickel, copper and steel. The 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 franc pieces have almost disappeared from use as prices rose. The franc is nominally divided into 100 centimes, but no centime coin or note has ever been issued.
Common questions
Questions about the Guinean franc
Why doesn't Guinea use the CFA franc like its neighbours?
Guinea left it on 1 March 1960, seventeen months after independence on 2 October 1958, and set up its own central bank to issue a national franc. The economist Benoît Lootvoet describes the choice as political and symbolic more than economic. Its neighbours in the West African monetary union kept the CFA franc.
What was the Guinean syli?
The syli was Guinea's currency from a reform of 2 October 1972 until 6 January 1986. It replaced the franc at ten francs to one syli and was divided into 100 cauris. Its gold value was dropped in June 1977 for a rate against the IMF's special drawing right, and its notes were recalled and replaced on 17 April 1981. The 1986 reform demonetised it, brought back the Guinean franc one for one and devalued the currency by 92%, at a fixed rate of 300 francs to the US dollar before weekly auctions took over.
Does the Guinean franc have coins?
It does, in cupronickel, copper and steel, but the 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 franc coins have almost dropped out of use as prices rose. The 25 and 50 franc notes were withdrawn in 1998 because coins had replaced them. No centime was ever struck.
Who prints Guinean banknotes?
De La Rue prints them in the United Kingdom, for the Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée. The firm also printed the second series of 1963, which carried no printer's imprint. The central bank issued a 20,000 franc note on 11 May 2015 and a revised, smaller version of it on 21 January 2018.