50 Centimes – Belgian Congo

In 1921, the currency situation in the Belgian Congo was defined by its transition from a franc tied to gold to one tied to the Belgian franc, within a complex colonial monetary hierarchy. Since its creation in 1887, the Congolese franc (CF) was issued by the Banque du Congo Belge and was initially on a gold standard, theoretically independent. However, in practice, its value was pegged at parity with the Belgian franc. This link was formalized in 1921 when the Congolese franc was officially anchored to the metropolitan currency, making the colony's monetary system a satellite of Belgium's. This move ensured stability for Belgian investors and trade but fully subordinated the colony's financial health to decisions made in Brussels.

The year 1921 fell within a period of post-World War I economic adjustment. While Belgium itself had abandoned the gold standard during the war and experienced inflation, the formalization of the peg in 1921 sought to re-establish predictable exchange conditions. The currency in circulation was a mixture of notes issued by the Banque du Congo Belge and coins minted specifically for the colony, all denominated in francs and centimes. This system facilitated the extraction of resources, as companies like the giant Société Générale de Belgique could operate with financial certainty, integrating the Congo's vast mineral and agricultural wealth into the Belgian economy.

For the Congolese population, however, this currency regime was part of a coercive economic structure. The introduction and imposition of a cash economy, through mechanisms like hut taxes payable in francs, forced labourers into the wage economy to work on plantations, in mines, or for the state. Thus, the stable currency of 1921 was not a neutral tool but an instrument of colonial policy, designed to monetize the local economy for the benefit of European enterprises and administrative control, while deeply disrupting traditional subsistence and trade patterns.