Zaire - 10 New Makuta - P-49 - Foreign Paper Money

Foreign Paper Money. Factory pyramids, elephant tusks and flowers. The zaire was the unit of currency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then of the Republic of Zaire from 1967 until 1997. All but six of the 79 series of banknotes issued bear the image of Mobutu Sese Seko. two distinct currencies have existed: The zaire (1967–1993, ZRZ), and the nouveau zaïre (1993–1998, ZRN).

The Zaire symbol: "Z", or sometimes "Ƶ", was introduced in 1967, replacing the Congolese franc at an exchange rate of 1 zaire = 1000 francs. The zaire was subdivided into 100 makuta (singular: likuta, symbol: "K"), each of 100 sengi (symbol: "s"). However, the sengi was worth very little and the only sengi denominated coin was the 10 sengi coin issued in 1967. Unusually for any currency, it was common practice to write cash amounts with three zeros after the decimal place, even after inflation had greatly devalued the currency. Inflation eventually caused denominations of banknotes up to 5,000,000 zaires to be issued, after which the new zaire was introduced.