5 Ouguiya

Mauritania's ouguiya was introduced in 1973 when the country withdrew from the West African CFA franc zone, one of the few post-independence decisions in the region to sever monetary ties with France entirely. The ouguiya was deliberately structured on a non-decimal system — five khoums to one ouguiya — reflecting an attempt to align currency with Islamic mathematical tradition, though the khoum denomination proved largely impractical in daily commerce.