Every country, whether it is independent or not, has exclusively its own official currency.

What generally distinguishes a state from one another is first its language and then its currency. These two elements play a key role in defining national identity as they reflect the country’s cultural value and symbol.

A brief history of the Malagasy currency
Madagascar’s official currency is “Ariary” and has the ISO standard code of MGA. Ariary is a unique currency since it has been categorized as one of the only two non-decimal currencies in the world along with Mauritania’s ouguiya. Both currencies have sub-units that are a non-decimal fraction of the main unit: one ouguiya from Mauritania is the equivalent of five khoums and one Malagasy Ariary is worth five iraimbilanja (enacademic).

The Malagasy ariary and iraimbilanja have traced their root in the pre-colonial period. Ariary means “silver dollar” while iraimbilanja is literally named “one iron weight”. During the colonial period, French “Franc” was introduced into the Malagasy currency policy and started circulating throughout Madagascar making it its official currency at that time; but in the late 1960s following decolonization, it was changed into Malagasy franc. Indeed, it was partly spurred by the Central Bank of Madagascar which took the initiative to issue banknotes in 1974. Founded in 1925, the Central Bank of Madagascar, once named “La Banque de Madagascar” inserted the Malagasy franc alongside the French already circulating in the Big Island. However, in 1945 it was replaced with Banque de Madagascar et des Comores and the Malagasy franc became the Madagascar-Comores CFA franc. It was in 2005 that the Malagasy Ariary has been appointed the official currency of Madagascar. Since then, the Cental Bank of the Malagasy Republic also translated to Banky Foiben’i Madagasikara has kept introducing notes under different denominations shifting from 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 francs to 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 ariary.

Depiction of the Malagasy banknotes
Since the Malagasy banknotes have been issued and printed between 1994 and 2004, each denomination has got its own specific feature. Indeed, all the notes are made up of emblematic images representing the riches of Madagascar. The four largest denominations were issued in July 2017 with a special focus on “Madagascar and its Riches” mostly depicting its economic activities, biodiversity, culture, and touristic sites. According to a decree released by the Banky Foiben’i Madagascar, here is a list of the current notes with their depiction:

• The 100-ariary note which measures 114 x 60 mm depicts the Cathedral of Ambozontany.

• The 200-ariary note measuring 119 x 63 mm depicts the Amber mountains waterfall.

• The 500-ariary note with 124 x 66 mm depicts the site of Ambohimanga.

• The 1,000-ariary note measures 196 x 69 mm and depicts the Kamoro bridge.

• The olive green 2,000-ariary note measures 134 x 72mm and features a lemur on the front side, and a tropical pitcher plant on the back side.

• The red 5,000-ariary note measures 139 x 75 mm and represents a waterfall in the Ranomafana Park on the front side and a humpback whale on the back side.

• The brown-yellow 10,000-ariary note which measures 144 x 78 mm shows a picture of the port of Ehoala on the front side, and a “Valiha” and “Zafimaniry” carved wooden objects on the back side.

• The blue 20,000-ariary note measures 149 x 81mm and displays the image of the nickel processing plant at Ambatovy on the front side, and vanilla, rice, and lychees on the back side.

As far as the value of Malagasy ariary is concerned, like any currency, there are times it may increase and sometimes decrease, but that does not necessarily mean it loses of its value.

Sources: BanknoteNews / Central Bank of Madagascar / Continental Currency