10 Francs – Morocco

In 1951, Morocco's currency situation was a complex reflection of its political status as a French and Spanish protectorate, with the international zone of Tangier adding a third monetary layer. The French franc, issued by Bank Al-Maghrib (a state bank under French control), was the dominant currency in the French zone, circulating alongside a limited issue of Moroccan francs pegged at parity. The Spanish peseta circulated in the northern Spanish protectorate, while the Tangier franc (effectively a hard currency pegged to the French franc but with full convertibility) was used in the International Zone. This fragmentation hindered domestic economic integration and trade.

Economically, the post-World War II period brought inflationary pressures and a growing balance of payments deficit, straining the fixed exchange rate system tied to the French franc. Morocco's economy, heavily oriented towards exporting phosphates and agricultural products to France, was vulnerable to shifts in the French economy and global prices. Furthermore, the colonial monetary system was designed to serve metropolitan interests, channeling Moroccan savings to finance France's post-war reconstruction and limiting Morocco's independent fiscal and monetary policy tools.

This unstable and fragmented currency regime became a point of rising nationalist contention. Moroccan intellectuals and the growing independence movement, the Istiqlal Party, criticized the system as a symbol of economic subjugation and a tool for draining the country's resources. The call for a unified, truly national currency, managed by an independent central bank, became an important element of the broader political demand for sovereignty, which would be realized just a few years later with independence in 1956.