Djiboutian franc

Djiboutian franc
Fr
The Djiboutian franc (فرنك) is the currency of Djibouti. Its ISO 4217 currency code is DJF. Historically, it was subdivided into 100 centimes.

From 1884, when the French Somaliland protectorate was established, the French franc circulated alongside the Indian rupee and the Maria Theresa thaler. These coexisted with 2 francs = 1 rupee and 4.2 francs = 1 Maria Theresa thaler.

From 1908, francs circulating in Djibouti were legally fixed at the value of the French franc. Starting in 1910, banknotes were issued for the then colony by the Bank of Indochina. Chamber of Commerce paper money and tokens were issued between 1919 and 1922.

In 1948, the first coins were issued specifically for use in Djibouti, in the name of the "Côte Française des Somalis". In 1949, an independent Djiboutian franc came into being when the local currency was pegged to the US dollar at a rate of 214.392 francs = 1 dollar. This was the value which the French franc had under the Bretton Woods system until a few months before. Consequently, the Djiboutian economy was not affected by the further devaluations of the French franc.

In 1952, the Public Treasury took over the production of paper money. French Somaliland's change of name in 1967 to the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas was reflected on both the territory's coins and notes. In 1971 and 1973, the franc was revalued against the US dollar, first to a rate of 197.466 to the dollar, then 177.721, a rate which has been maintained ever since. A further change in coin and banknote design followed independence in 1977.

Country
  • Djibouti
    Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area of 8958 sqmi.

    In antiquity, the territory, together with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland, was part of the Land of Punt. Nearby Zeila, now in Somaliland, was the seat of the medieval Adal and Ifat Sultanates. In the late 19th century, the colony of French Somaliland was established after the ruling Dir Somali sultans signed treaties with the French, and its railroad to Dire Dawa (and later Addis Ababa) allowed it to quickly supersede Zeila as the port for southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden. It was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas in 1967. A decade later, the Djiboutian people voted for independence. This officially marked the establishment of the Republic of Djibouti, named after its capital city. The new state joined the United Nations. In the early 1990s, tensions over government representation led to armed conflict, which ended in a power-sharing agreement in 2000 between the ruling party and the opposition.