The Ruanda-Urundi franc was a currency issued for the Belgian mandate territory of

Ruanda-Urundi Ruanda-Urundi (), later Rwanda-Burundi, was a geopolitical entity, once part of German East Africa, that was occupied by troops from the Belgian Congo during the East African campaign in World War I and was administered by Belgium under milit ...

in 1960–62 which continued to circulate within its

successor state Succession of states is a concept in international relations regarding a successor state that has become a sovereign state over a territory (and populace) that was previously under the sovereignty of another state. The theory has its roots in 19th ...

s of

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

and

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

until 1964. The currency replaced the Belgian Congo franc which had also circulated in Ruanda-Urundi from 1916 to 1960 when the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

became independent, leaving Ruanda-Urundi as the sole Belgian colonial possession in Africa. With the independence of Rwanda and Burundi in 1962, the shared Ruanda-Urundi franc continued to circulate until 1964 when it was eventually replaced by two separate national currencies.

History

The franc became the currency of Rwanda and Burundi in 1916, when the two countries were occupied by Belgium and the Belgian Congo franc replaced the German East African rupie. In 1960, the Belgian Congo franc was replaced by the Ruanda-Urundi franc, issued by the Banque d'Émission du Rwanda et du Burundi (BERB). This circulated after independence until January 1964, when Rwanda and Burundi introduced their own currencies, the

Burundian franc The franc (ISO 4217 code is BIF) is the currency of Burundi. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''centimes'', although coins have never been issued in centimes since Burundi began issuing its own currency. Only during the period when Burundi used ...

and the Rwandan franc.

Coins

A single denomination was issued, the 1 franc, between 1960 and 1964.

Banknotes

From 1960 to 1963, the BERB issued notes in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 francs. In 1964, Burundi overprinted all of these denominations for use in Burundi, whilst Rwanda overprinted all but the 5 and 10 franc notes for use in Rwanda. Some notes were overprinted in 1961 for use as Katangese francs in the successionist state of Katanga in the Congo.

References

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Franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th century ...

Modern obsolete currencies Currencies of Africa Currencies of Rwanda Currencies of Burundi 1960 establishments in Ruanda-Urundi 1964 disestablishments in Rwanda 1964 disestablishments in Burundi 1960s in economic history {{Burundi-stub