2 Ngwee

KM#10a marks the transition from the original bronze 2 Ngwee to copper clad steel — a direct response to rising base metal costs that made the bronze composition economically untenable for a country already under pressure from collapsed copper export revenues. Zambia's economy had grown dangerously dependent on copper, and by the early 1980s the global price collapse had gutted government finances. Cheaper coinage blanks were an unavoidable consequence.

The steel core makes these distinguishable from their bronze predecessors with a magnet — a simple test that matters given how similar the two types appear in circulated grades.