200 Ouguiya

Mauritania had only established the Banque Centrale de Mauritanie in 1973, following its withdrawal from the West African Monetary Union and the introduction of the ouguiya to replace the CFA franc — a currency reform that gave the country independent monetary control for the first time since independence in 1960. This note belongs to the inaugural series, meaning it entered circulation at the precise moment the new currency did.

Banque de France intaglio work on early post-colonial African issues is typically clean, and this series is no exception. The single watermark security feature reflects what was standard practice for a newly established central bank operating on a constrained setup budget.