Catalog
5 Riels
| Issuer | National Bank of Cambodia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1987 |
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| Currency | Second riel (1979-date) |
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| Obverse description | The left portion of the note carries a vignette of Khmer factory workers in an industrial setting, rendered in reddish-brown tones over a fine guilloche underprint. The State Emblem of the People's Republic of Kampuchea is positioned to the right, flanked by Khmer script and numeral denominations along the upper and lower borders. The overall composition is characteristic of the socialist-era banknote design prevalent in the People's Republic of Kampuchea issues. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ๕ 5 ប្រាំរៀល ๕ 5 RIELS (Translation: 5, 5 FIVE RIELS 5 5 RIELS) |
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| Comments |
Cambodia's mid-1980s note issues came out of a period of acute monetary reconstruction. The PRK government had only reintroduced currency in 1980, after the Khmer Rouge had abolished money entirely between 1975 and 1979 — one of the few regimes in modern history to do so. These lower denominations from the late 1980s were practical instruments for a rebuilt banking system still operating under Vietnamese-backed socialist administration.
The print run of just over 12 million is modest but unsurprising for a 5-riel note whose purchasing power was negligible by the late 1980s, as inflation steadily eroded the low end of the riel scale.