Historical Sketch

The Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó discovered the island of Bioko for the Europeans in 1472, and the island was subsequently named after him until the original name got restored after independence. The Portuguese colony was ceded to Spain in the Pardo Treaty of 1778. The mainland territory of Rio Muni had remained uncolonized for long time, apart from a few establishments for slave trade. At the 1885 Berlin Conference Rio Muni was given to France which added it to the Gabon colony but ceded it to Spain again in 1900. Rio Muni was renamed Spanish Guinea in 1902, and Fernando Póo and neighboring islands became the Gulf of Guinea Territories in 1909. In 1926, the two parts were merged into Spanish Guinea but divided again into two Spanish overseas provinces, Rio Muni and Fernando Póo, in 1959. The territorial integration into Spain, however, was not pursued as in the referendum of 1963 the population voted for autonomy. In 1968, Equatorial Guinea attained independence.

Monetary History Overview

After independence in 1968, Equatorial Guinea maintained economic ties with Spain. The central bank was operated by Spain, and the new national currency Equatorial Guinean Peseta remained at par with the Spanish Peseta. In 1975, a currency reform took place, and the Equatorial Guinean Ekwele got introduced at par. The reason was more political than economic as the name "Peseta" had a colonial connotation and "Ekwele" made reference to pre-colonial iron money used by the Fang and Beti people. The 1975 currency law prescribed a spelling as "Ekuele", a revised law of 1981 changed this into "Ekwele" (both inaccurate renderings of the Fang / Beti word "Ekpele"). The currency repegged from the Spanish Peseta to the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) unit, but four years later in 1979, the Ekwele switched back to parity with the Spanish Peseta. In June 1980, the currency got devalued by 50%. Equatorial Guinea's economic weakness (before the oil finds in the mid-1990s) brought the government to seek adherence to the Central African Monetary Union of former French possessions. As a preparation for the changeover, the Ekwele got devalued by more than 80% in late 1994, and in January 1985, the Central African CFA Franc was introduced instead of a national currency. The Equatorial Guinean banknotes and coins were demonetized within a week. To ease the transition for the new member of the monetary union, the Bank of the Central African States temporarily issued paper money and coins in Spanish language. They were used until end 1992.

Equatorial Guinea joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 22.12.1969.

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