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The franc (; ; sign: FC; ISO 4217 code: KMF) is the official currency of Comoros. It is nominally subdivided into 100 centimes, although no centime denominations have ever been issued.
On 1 July 1925, the French government formed an agreement with the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas to create the Banque de Madagascar, headquartered in Paris, and granted it a private monopoly to issue currency for the colony of Madagascar. The Malagasy franc (French: franc malgache) was equivalent to the French franc and French coins continued to circulate as Madagascar had no coins of its own until 1943.
When the Comoros became a separate French territory in 1945, the name of the issuing bank was changed to the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores (still headquartered in Paris). A branch office opened in Comoros in 1953. While the banknotes were changed to reflect the new status of Comoros, the coins were not changed and bore only the name Madagascar. On 26 December 1945, the Madagascar-Comores CFA franc was established and its value was fixed at 1.7 . Old Madagascar coins and banknotes continued to circulate as this new currency. On 17 October 1948, the CFA franc was revalued to 2 French francs.
In 1950, the French government took over majority ownership of the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores. On 1 January 1960, the French franc was redenominated, with 100 old francs becoming 1 new franc. (Décret n°59-1450 du 22 décembre 1959) The new exchange rate was 1 Madagascar-Comores CFA franc = 0.02 French francs (50 Madagascar-Comores CFA francs = 1 French franc).
On 26 June 1960, Madagascar gained independence from France, and the Institut d'Émission Malgache (headquartered in Antananarivo) was created to issue currency only for Madagascar. Madagascar left the CFA zone effective 1 July 1973.
On 23 November 1979, the government of Comoros signed the Accord de coopération monétaire entre la République Française et la République fédérale islamique des Comores, ACCORD DE COOPERATION MONETAIRE a monetary cooperation agreement with France, making Comoros part of the franc zone (but not part of the CFA franc zone). This agreement provided for the establishment of a system of fixed parity between the French franc and the Comorian franc and free convertibility between the two Currency, guaranteed by the Comorian central bank's opening of an operations account ( compte d'operation) at the French Treasury (Trésor public) to handle all exchange transactions. Sixty-five percent of the foreign exchange reserves of Comoros are held in in this account. This account is similar to overnight deposits with the French Treasury: it may bear interest and may, in special circumstances, post a negative balance. However, to prevent this account from showing a lasting overdraft, a number of preventative measures have been set up.
The stability of the Comorian franc is founded on tight monetary and credit discipline, underpinned by two specific safeguard measures: the central bank is required to maintain 20% foreign-exchange cover of its sight liabilities, and the government is not allowed to draw more than 20% of the previous year's budget receipts from their central bank funds. The finance minister of the franc area (France, the CFA zone and Comoros) meet biannually. The agreement between France and the Comoros is essentially the same as the agreement France has with the CFA Zone. It is a continuation of a relationship of monetary cooperation between the two countries that has existed for more than a century.
Until 1994, the Comorian franc was pegged to the French franc at the rate of 50 Comorian francs to 1 French franc. This was changed on 12 January 1994, when the currency was devaluation in concert with the CFA franc devaluation. however, the Comorian franc was devalued % to a new rate of 75 Comorian francs for 1 French franc, while the CFA franc's new rate was 100 CFA francs to 1 French franc. With the creation of the euro in January 1999, the Comorian franc was fixed currency, at its prevailing rate, to the new currency. The exchange rate is now 491.96775 Comorian francs to 1 euro.
In the 1920s, a shortage of coins led to the issuance of private tokens by the principal colonial company on Ngazidja and a sugar plantation on Mayotte. Denominations included 25 and 50 centimes and 1 and 2 francs. Aluminium and bronze were used in these tokens.
Until 1975, only French appeared on Comorian coins. Since then, Comorian has also been used.
| 23 mm |
| 27 mm |
| 31 mm |
| aluminum bronze |
| nickel |
| 24 mm |
| nickel-plated steel |
General circulation Comorian have always been minted by the Monnaie de Paris. This is indicated by the cornucopia mint mark on the coins, visible to the left of the date, although this was omitted from the 1994 50 FC piece at the request of the Comorian government. The coins are manufactured at their facility in Pessac, Gironde.
The 5 FC coin is nicknamed reali, referring to the Spanish real; the 2 FC coin is nicknamed nusu, meaning "half", and the 1 FC coin "robo", meaning "quarter". The 1 FC, 2 FC, 5 FC and 10 FC coins are rarely used because of their low value. The 25 FC and 100 FC coins contain the phrase "Augmentons la production alimentaire" ( Let's increase food production). The 5 FC coin contains the phrase "Conférence Mondiale sur les Pêches" ( World Conference on Fishing). Both of these phrases are references to programs by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Comoros is one of 114 countries that have issued FAO coins.
Loi ordinaire 62-873 du 31 juillet 1962, Article 12, allowed the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores to continue issuing notes in Comoros after Madagascar began issuing its own currency but, beginning 1 April 1962, they had "" overstamped on them. Denominations of 50 FC, 100 FC, 500 FC, 1,000 FC and 5,000 FC were issued. As per Décret 64-1038 du 07 octobre 1964, banknotes without the overstamp ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 1964.
The overstamped notes circulated until 1976, when 500 FC, 1,000 FC and 5,000 FC were introduced by the Institut d'Émission des Comores, the 50 FC and 100 FC notes being replaced by coins. The central Bank took over production of paper money in 1984. 2,500 FC and 10,000 FC notes were introduced in 1997, followed by 2,000 FC in 2005. The 2,500 FC note was demonetized on 31 January 2007.
Comorian are printed by the Banque de France at their paper mill in Vic-le-Comte and their printing works in Chamalières, both in Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne. The 500 FC, 1,000 FC, 2,000 FC, 5,000 FC, and 10,000 FC notes dated 2005 and 2006 contain the EURion constellation, along with other improved security features to make them more difficult to counterfeit.
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