500 Gourdes Development

Haiti's 1981 gold commemorative program was part of a broader effort under Jean-Claude Duvalier's government to generate hard currency through collector coin sales, largely marketed to foreign buyers rather than domestic circulation. These pieces were never intended to move through Haitian commerce.

KM#161 belongs to a series issued through that mechanism — coins produced more as export financial instruments than numismatic objects, a common arrangement between Caribbean states and foreign minting contractors during the 1970s and 1980s.