What is the currency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

The currency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the Congolese franc.

Its ISO code is CDF, and the currency is also called the franc congolais. The Central Bank of the Congo issues its banknotes. Although the franc was historically divided into 100 centimes, centimes no longer have practical value and are not used in ordinary transactions.

The currency has a complicated history. A Congolese franc was first introduced in 1887 for the Congo Free State and later continued under Belgian rule. It remained in use after independence in 1960, but the zaïre replaced it in 1967 at a rate of 1 zaïre to 1,000 francs. The franc returned in 1997, replacing the new zaïre at a rate of 1 franc to 100,000 new zaïres.

The Congolese franc is easy to confuse with the Central African CFA franc, the West African CFA franc, or Rwanda’s franc. Those are separate currencies with different issuing systems and codes. The country’s official name also matters: the Congolese franc belongs to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, commonly called DR Congo, not the neighboring Republic of the Congo.