The Institut d'émission d'outre-mer, which handles currency for French Polynesia alongside New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, has issued the franc CFP series continuously since 1949 — the CFP standing for "colonies françaises du Pacifique," a designation retained long after decolonization made the name politically awkward. The 5 franc denomination has been the workhorse of small transactions across archipelagos separated by thousands of kilometers of open Pacific.
The Austral Islands reverse, introduced as part of a rotating geographic series, reflects the territory's ongoing effort to distinguish its coinage culturally from metropolitan France while remaining within the franc zone.
The Institut d'émission d'outre-mer, which handles currency for French Polynesia alongside New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, has issued the franc CFP series continuously since 1949 — the CFP standing for "colonies françaises du Pacifique," a designation retained long after decolonization made the name politically awkward. The 5 franc denomination has been the workhorse of small transactions across archipelagos separated by thousands of kilometers of open Pacific.
The Austral Islands reverse, introduced as part of a rotating geographic series, reflects the territory's ongoing effort to distinguish its coinage culturally from metropolitan France while remaining within the franc zone.