5 Millimes

Tunisia's post-independence coinage program launched in 1960 as the Central Bank replaced the transitional franc-based issues following the abolition of the monarchy in 1957. The aluminium 5 millimes was struck across an unusually long production run — over three decades — with minimal design revision, a reflection of monetary stability rather than institutional inertia. Aluminium was chosen deliberately for low-denomination coins to keep production costs below face value, a calculation that became increasingly important as inflation eroded the real worth of the millime throughout the 1970s and 1980s.