Nfk

The Eritrean nakfa, which replaced the Ethiopian birr at par on November 15, 1998, is the country's official tender. The name of the currency comes from the Eritrean town of Nakfa, which saw the first significant victory in the country's war for independence. There are 100 pennies in a nakfa. The nakfa is fixed at a fixed exchange rate of US$1 = ERN 15. Previously, it had a fixed exchange rate of US$1 = ERN 13.50. As a result of the currency's partial conversion, black market exchange rates on the streets often offered a rate of 15 nakfas per dollar. All nakfa banknotes were replaced by new ones by the Bank of Eritrea between November 18 and December 31, 2015. The idea to replace banknotes was created to fight counterfeiting, the informal economy, but especially Sudanese people traffickers who had received payment in the form of nakfa banknotes in exchange for transporting prospective immigrants, mostly to Europe. As a result, significant sums of the nation's money were found in sizable hoards outside of Eritrea. The top-secret plan to replace the nation's money was created to stop people traffickers from bringing their money back in time to trade for the new banknotes. Old nakfa banknotes ceased to be accepted as legal cash on January 1, 2016, making external currency stockpiles useless. German banknote printer Giesecke & Devrient produced the current series of banknotes using artwork by Afro-American banknote designer Clarence Holbert.