10 Ariary motto D

The Malagasy ariary is one of the few currencies in the world not based on a decimal subdivision of ten — the iraimbilanja, its subunit, divides the ariary into five rather than one hundred. This reflects the pre-colonial counting system that survived French occupation and was formally reinstated when Madagascar redenominated from the Malagasy franc in 1961, a deliberate reassertion of indigenous numerical tradition that most post-colonial states never attempted.

KM#31 is part of a long-running stainless steel series that replaced earlier bimetallic and aluminum-bronze issues as Madagascar's central bank rationalized coinage costs following chronic foreign exchange shortages in the 2000s.