100 Kwacha Pelican

The 1998 issue falls within a period of acute economic stress in Zambia — the kwacha had lost the vast majority of its purchasing power through the late 1980s and 1990s, and a 100-kwacha face value that once meant something was by this point effectively negligible in daily transactions. Zambia was simultaneously navigating IMF structural adjustment conditions that constrained monetary policy and gutted social spending.

KM#61 is part of a wildlife series that the Bank of Zambia issued partly for collector export revenue — hard currency the government badly needed.