FRANCJA (1945-1960) French franc [FRG]

1 franc = 100 centimes

The post-war French franc [FRG] had its origins back in the early years of the French Revolution. On April 7, 1803 it was agreed that the currency called Germinal franc would be created, which would equal to 290.32 mg of gold and 4.5 grams of silver. The name Germinal (from Latin germen - shoot) came from the name of the seventh month of the French revolutionary calendar, which lasted roughly from March 21 to April 19 of the Gregorian calendar. Pegging franc with exactly the same amount of gold survived the Latin Monetary Union from years 1864-1914. Only World War I and the post-war period was devalueing franc gradually to about half the value in the '20s of the 20th century. During World War II franc was pegged to the German mark DER in ratio 20 FRG for 1 DER. After the war franc FRG was included in the Bretton Woods system, but its value was dropping. In 1945 it was exchangable into American dollars USD in ratio 119.1 FRG for 1 USD. Four years later, the ratio was adjusted to 350 FRG for 1 USD and in 1958 reached 493.7 FRG for 1 USD.