20 Centimes

This note was issued in 1997, the year Laurent-Désiré Kabila overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko and renamed the country from Zaïre back to the Democratic Republic of Congo — with it came a new central bank identity and a new currency, the franc congolais, replacing the hyperinflation-ravaged nouveau zaïre. Jean-Claude Masangu Mulongo, who signed this note, was appointed governor of the reconstituted Banque Centrale du Congo and would remain in that post until 2013.

A 20 centimes denomination was largely a formality given the monetary chaos of the period — centime subdivisions had no practical purchasing power at introduction.