500 Zaïres

Zaïre's currency was in freefall through the mid-1980s, with inflation running well into triple digits annually. The 500 Zaïres denomination, substantial on paper, was already losing practical value almost as fast as Giesecke & Devrient could deliver the sheets from Munich. By the end of the decade, denominations in the hundreds of thousands would be necessary for everyday transactions.

P#30 carries a single watermark as its sole security provision — modest by contemporary international standards, though consistent with the series. G&D's Munich plant had a long relationship with Zaïre's central bank across multiple issues of this period.