1 Ekwele

The ekwele was introduced in 1975 when Equatorial Guinea severed its monetary ties with Spain and the peseta guineana, adopting a new currency under the dictatorship of Francisco Macías Nguema. By 1980, Macías had been deposed and executed — overthrown in August 1979 by his own nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Coins dated 1980 belong to the earliest phase of Obiang's regime, issued as the country attempted to stabilize an economy that Macías had nearly destroyed through mass expulsions, capital flight, and the closure of the national bank.