Historical Sketch

The European conquest of the coast around the mouth of the river Senegal began in the 16th century: The area remained disputed between France and England, until the two colonial powers agreed on a partition in 1783. The Gambia colony was established in 1821 comprising the coastal region, the inland territory along the Senegal river was added as Gambia protectorate in 1894. Gambia attained independence in 1965, and the republic was proclaimed in 1970. In the 1980s, Gambia and Senegal were joint in the "Confederation of Senegambia" which, however, never reached an operational level.

Monetary History Overview

The colonial administration introduced the Sterling accounting, but British coinage was never imported in large quantities. Foreign trade coins like the Spanish Dollar and French money from the neighbouring territories were common in the coastal areas. In June 1913, Great Britain created the West African Currency Board which issued a common currency for the four colonies of Gold Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Gambia. The West African Pound remained current during the colonial rule.

The Gambian government had decided to leave the common currency already before independence in 1965, so that in October 1964, the Gambian Pound became the national currency. Like its predecessor it was at par with the Pound Sterling. Decimalization was done in July 1971, and the Gambian Dalasi at a fifth of a Pound became the new currency unit. The Sterling peg remained in place until 1986. In 1973, the Dalasi was upvalued by 25% to compensate for the depreciation after the 1972 floating of the Sterling. The old parity was restored in 1983, and three years later, the Dalasi was devalued by 34%, and the exchange rate got floated. The value of the currency continually declined in the following, reaching annual two-digit percentage in the early 2000s. Another inflationary surge occurred in the early 2010s. After that the currency has somewhat stabilized.

Gambia joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 21.09.1967.

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