Liberian dollar: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:12, 24 March 2006

Revision as of 02:13, 2 April 2006

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The first Liberian dollars were issued in 1847. These were [[Fixed exchange rate|pegged]] to the [[US dollar]] and circulated until 1907, when Liberia adopted the [[West African pound]], which was pegged to [[Pound sterling|sterling]]. United States currency replaced the West African pound in Liberia in 1943 and circulated alone until 1960, when Liberia began issuing its own dollar once more, though initially only in coins.

Liberia augmented UnitedAmerican States' coincoins and paper moneynotes with its own coins of 1¢, 2¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢ and L$1. The flight of suitcase-loads of USD paper in the economic collapse following the April 12, 1980 [[Liberia#1980 coup under Doe|coup d'état]] created a currency shortage, which was only exacerbated when the government began minting $5 coins. Unfortunately the 7-sided coins were the same size and weight as the one-dollar coin; this similarity was frequently abused by traders.

In the late 1980s the coins were largely replaced with a newly-designed $5 bill modeled after the USD greenback. The design was modified during the 1990-2004 civil war to ostracize bills looted from the Central Bank of Liberia. This effectively created two currency zones -- the new bills were legal tender in government-held areas (primarily Monrovia), while the old bills were legal tender in non-government areas. Each was of course illegal in the other territory.