The franc was the currency of Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 between 1891 and 1958. It was divided into 100 centime

Centime

Centime is French for "cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries ....

s (صنتيم) and was equivalent to the French franc

French franc

The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...

.

History

The franc replaced the rial

Tunisian rial

The rial was the currency of Tunis until 1891. It was subdivided into 16 kharub , each of 13 fals . The fals was further subdivided into 6 qafsi . The nasri was worth 2 fals. The denomination was often either not given on coins or only indicated by a numeral...

 in 1891 at the rate of 1 rial = 60 centimes. It consisted of both coins and banknotes produced specifically for Tunisia, although early banknotes were Algerian issues overstamped with "Tunisie". The franc was replaced in 1960 by the dinar

Tunisian dinar

The dinar is the currency of Tunisia. It is subdivided into 1000 milim or millimes . The abbreviation DT is often used in Tunisia, although writing "dinar" after the amount is also acceptable ; the abbreviation TD is also mentioned in a few places, but is less frequently used, given the common use...

 at a rate of 1000 francs = 1 dinar, the dinar having been established as the unit of account in 1958.

Coins

The first coins denominated in francs were issued in 1887, before the franc became the currency of Tunisia. These were gold 25 rial coins which were also marked "15 F" to indicate their value in French francs. In 1891, bronze 1, 2, 5 and 10 centimes, silver 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs, and gold 10 and 20 francs were introduced, all equal in size and composition to the corresponding French coins. The 1 and 2 centimes were only issued that year.

In 1918, holed, nickel-bronze 5, 10 and 25 centimes were introduced, followed, in 1921, by aluminium-bronze 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs and silver 10 and 20 francs in 1930. Again, these coins matched the French coins in size and composition. However, in 1934, silver 5 francs coins were introduced, despite the French 5 francs being made of nickel. As in France, zinc 10 and 20 centimes coins were introduced during the Second World War with silver coins discontinued.

Production of coins below 5 francs ceased in 1945, with an aluminium-bronze 5 francs introduced in 1946, followed by cupro-nickel 20, 50 and 100 francs in 1950 and a cupro-nickel 5 francs in 1954. These four cupro-nickel coins were last struck in 1957.

Banknotes

In 1903, the Banque de l'Algérie introduced 5 franc notes with the overprint "Tunisie". These were followed by 500 francs in 1904, 20, 50 and 10 francs in 1908 and 1000 franc notes in 1918. Between 1918 and 1921, the "Regence de Tunis" issued notes for 50 centimes, 1 and 2 francs. The bank introduced 5000 franc notes in 1942, whilst the "Direction des Finance" issued 50 centime, 1 and 2 franc notes in 1943. The last 5 franc notes were issued in 1944.

In 1946, the name of the bank changed to the Banque de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie. Notes were issued for Tunisia in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 francs, with the 20, 50 and 100 franc notes being replaced by coins in 1950.