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I’m surprised to see that the US is releasing new dollar coins.  There’s a New York Times article about it today.  Currency is funny in the DR Congo.  Congo’s economy has been linked to the dollar for awhile now in an attempt to curb wartime inflation.  I’m not sure when it will lose dependency on the USD.  We might be the only microfinance institution that loans in Congolese Francs, and it’s not always easy with value fluctuations.

Awhile back I mentioned how dollar bills are not taken in Kinshasa but they are here in Kisangani.  Bills generally need to be without the slightest tear and must be series 2000 or newer.  These rules are in response to likely rampant counterfeiting.  Bills that don’t meet these tests will not be bought back by banks that ship them to the USA.  The tradition of stamping money with initials is strong in Congo.  Some say it’s just so that wealthy people can see their money coming back to them.  Others say that it’s a way to show others that you’ve touched a lot of money.  It’s only done with the US dollars.

The article talks about how the $1 bill is the among the smallest valued paper money in the world.  They obviously refer only to wealthy nations.  They cite Japan’s smallest Yen bill at a value of about $8 and the smallest Euro note around $6.  Here in Congo our largest Franc bill is 500, which is about $0.92 right now.  That’s right, our LARGEST bill is SMALLER than $1!!  It doesn’t circulate nearly as much as the 200, 100, 50, 20, and 10.  The 10 Franc bill is worth 1.8 cents!  They are not remade often enough and so widely circulated that they are often shades of brown and absolutely falling apart.  There is no way that the government can afford to make the tiny currency that we have.  We use no coins at all in DRC.  I don’t know how we make decisions without coins to flip!
This makes for all kinds of challenges in microfinance.  There are rumors of a new larger bill coming out, but this causes inflation fears based on what has happened in the past.