10 Riels

The 1979 series was the first currency issued after the Khmer Rouge period, during which Cambodia had famously abolished money entirely — the National Bank was blown up in 1975, markets were banned, and the entire population was forcibly relocated to agricultural labor camps. When the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea reestablished a monetary system, it did so from essentially nothing, with no functioning banking infrastructure and a population that had spent four years in a cashless forced economy.

Printed by the Soviet security printer Goznak, the series reflects Cambodia's political alignment in 1979 rather than any continuity with pre-Khmer Rouge banking.