10 000 Zaïres

By 1989, Zaïre's inflation had been running at catastrophic levels for years — a direct consequence of Mobutu Sese Seko's systematic looting of state finances and the collapse of copper and cobalt revenues. The 10,000 Zaïre denomination, unthinkable at independence, had become a practical necessity for routine transactions. Giesecke & Devrient, printing in Leipzig during the final years of the DDR, supplied several African central banks during this period regardless of political alignment.

Pick 38 is relatively common in circulated grades; high-denomination notes from this series moved quickly and wore quickly.