100 Francs

Rwanda's 1989 series was printed under relatively stable conditions — the catastrophic events that would render Rwandan currency politically charged were still five years away. This note predates the period when the National Bank's operations were severely disrupted, and circulated during a time when the franc was under moderate but manageable inflationary pressure linked to falling coffee export revenues, coffee being Rwanda's dominant hard currency earner throughout the 1980s.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement was consistent across multiple Rwandan issues of this period. The watermark security on P#19 is modest by contemporary standards, reflecting the threat environment assessed at the time of contract.