Congo issues 10,000 franc note

High-denomination Congolese notes of up to 10,000 francs (£7) hit the streets of the capital Kinshasa yesterday, jogging memories of the dizzying hyperinflation under former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko which sent the local economy crashing.

Banknotes in Mobutu-era Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire, included a five-million-zaire bill worth just £1.50 as inflation hit 24,000 per cent in 1994.

President Joseph Kabila’s government said the new notes were needed because of the steady depreciation of the Congolese franc with locals using US dollars as hard currency instead.

The government said it has prices under control and enough foreign currency reserves to prevent inflation taking off again.

Up until now the largest note available in Congolese francs has been 500. Although many of Congo’s economic indicators remain firmly in the red – four fifths of the population live on less than £1.50 a day, unemployment is at 75 per cent and the country came bottom of a UN development index last year – the government has been praised by the IMF.