Historical Sketch

In 1502, the Portuguese fleet under Vasco da Gama arrived at the uninhabited islands, but only two and a half centuries later, a colonial claim was laid by France. Permanent settlement was not established afterwards, and after the Napoleonic Wars, the Seychelles were ceded to Great Britain. Originally a dependency of Mauritius, the became a separate British colony in 1903. The Republic of Seychelles attained independence in 1976.

Monetary History Overview

In August 1914, an ordinance was passed that authorized a limited issuance of government paper money to prepare for a currency shortage during wartime. A provisional Currency Commission was set up which continued after 1919, when the paper money issuance was extended. In 1936, the powers of the commission were increased to correspond to a full-fledged currency board. At the same time, the Seychellois Rupee was unpegged from the Indian Rupee and attached to the British Pound. Three years later, the Seychelles introduced distinct subsidiary coins, with that the monetary separation from Mauritius became complete. The Rupee followed the 1967 Sterling, and the peg remained unchanged also after independence in 1976. But three years later, the Rupee severed the link to the Sterling and it repegged to the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) unit. The exchange rate got floated in 1996 and was kept stable for another decade. During a period of political instability in the late 2000s, the Rupee lost 50% of its value. After another decade of currency stability, a 50% depreciation followed in 2020.

The Seychelles joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 30.06.1977.

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