5 Francs

Waterlow & Sons produced this series under wartime conditions — by 1943, the Belgian government-in-exile in London was administering Congo Belge's finances from afar, and the colony's currency supply had to be managed entirely through British printers. The notes were shipped to Léopoldville for issue, a logistical chain that made consistent quality control difficult across the full 1943–1947 span.

The small format was a deliberate cost reduction, not a design choice — paper rationing in wartime Britain affected banknote production alongside everything else. Waterlow was simultaneously fulfilling contracts for multiple governments-in-exile and colonial authorities during this period, which occasionally introduced minor plate inconsistencies between print runs.