Catalog
2 Kak 0.2 Riel
| Issuer | State Bank of the People's Republic of Kampuchea |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
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| Size | 107 × 53 mm |
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| Reverse description | A finely engraved vignette occupies the central field, showing Khmer women stooped in a flooded paddy field transplanting rice seedlings in the foreground, with oxen ploughing and additional agricultural labourers visible in the middle distance against a treeline horizon. The denomination '0.2' appears in Arabic numerals at upper right and lower left, with a circular guilloche rosette at lower left and the Khmer denomination inscription centred below the vignette, all within a fine geometric border. |
| Reverse lettering | ๐.២ 0.2 0.2 ពីរកាក់ ๐.២ |
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| Comments |
The People's Republic of Kampuchea was proclaimed in January 1979, days after Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge. Re-introducing currency was among the first acts of the new government — the Khmer Rouge had abolished money entirely in 1975, evacuating cities and destroying the National Bank of Cambodia in a literal sense. These 1979 fractional notes represent the first return of paper currency to Cambodia after four years of enforced monetary abolition, a circumstance with almost no parallel in twentieth-century monetary history.
The 2 Kak denomination equals 0.2 Riel — a fractional unit that suggests planners anticipated real small-denomination transaction needs in a shattered economy starting from nothing.