Cambodia's 1989 coinage program was produced during one of the most turbulent phases of the country's postwar reconstruction, just as the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea began issuing collector coins to generate hard currency — a practice common among cash-starved socialist states throughout the Cold War's final decade. These pieces were struck for export and foreign collectors, not domestic circulation; the riel itself had only been reintroduced in 1980 after Pol Pot's regime had abolished currency entirely.
Cambodia's 1989 coinage program was produced during one of the most turbulent phases of the country's postwar reconstruction, just as the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea began issuing collector coins to generate hard currency — a practice common among cash-starved socialist states throughout the Cold War's final decade. These pieces were struck for export and foreign collectors, not domestic circulation; the riel itself had only been reintroduced in 1980 after Pol Pot's regime had abolished currency entirely.