The zaire (French: zaïre, code ) 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, ), and the nouveau zaïre (1993–1998, ). History Zaire (1967–1993) 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. History The zaire was introduced on 23 June 1967, at a rate of one zaire = 1000 Congolese francs = 100 Belgian francs. This gives an implicit exchange rate of US$2 per zaire. Between 1971 and 1976, the zaire was pegged to the U.S. dollar with an exchange rate of Z0.50 to US$1. 12 March 1976 to 31 October 1978: Zaire pegged at parity with the special drawing rights. 1 November 1978: Zaire devalued to 0.95 SDRs (–5%). 6 November 1978: Devalued to 0.81 SDRs (–14.7%). 27 November 1978: Devalued to 0.7614 SDRs (–6%). 1 January 1979: Devalued to 0.5 SDRs (–34.3%). 24 August 1979: Devalued to 0.375 SDRs (–25%). There was a currency confiscation on 26 December 1979. 22 February 1980: Devalued to 0.2625 SDRs (–30%). 19 June 1981: Devalued to 0.1575 SDRs (–40%). On 9 September 1983, the zaire was devalued to approximately 28 zaires per SDR (Z1 = 0.035425 SDRs). Afterwards, the currency was floated. The currency continued to lose value, with the exchange rates for one U.S. dollar shown below at certain time periods: 1985: 50 zaires 1986: 60 zaires 1987: 112 zaires 1988: 187 zaires 1989: 381 zaires 1990: 719 zaires 1991: 15,300 zaires Early 1992: 114,291 zaires December 1992: 1,990,000 zaires March 1993: 2,529,000 zaires October 1993: 8,000,000 zaires (3 new zaires) December 1993: 110,000,000 zaires (37 new zaires)