25 Lekë

The Banka e Shtetit Shqiptar — the State Bank of Albania — operated as a monobank under the Hoxha regime, meaning it simultaneously performed central banking, commercial, and savings functions with no separation of roles. This 25 Lekë note belongs to the series introduced after the 1964 redenomination, which replaced the earlier lek at a 10:1 ratio, effectively wiping out much of the population's accumulated savings in a single administrative stroke.

Albania's near-total economic isolation from the late 1960s onward — first from the Soviet bloc, then from China after 1978 — meant these notes circulated in one of the most closed monetary systems in the world, with virtually no foreign exchange mechanism for ordinary citizens.