The Belgian franc (Dutch Belgische frank, French franc belge) was the currency of Belgium, before the adoption of the euro.
| Belgische frank Template:Nl icon Franc belge Template:Fr icon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| ISO 4217 | |||||
| Code | BEF | ||||
| Unit | |||||
| Plural | franken Template:Nl icon francs Template:Fr icon | ||||
| Symbol | f | ||||
| Denominations | |||||
| Subunit | |||||
| 1/100 | centiem Template:Nl icon centime Template:Fr icon | ||||
| Plural | |||||
| centiem Template:Nl icon centime Template:Fr icon | centiemen Template:Nl icon centimes Template:Fr icon | ||||
| Symbol | |||||
| centiem Template:Nl icon centime Template:Fr icon | c c | ||||
| Banknotes | |||||
| Freq. used | 100f, 200f, 500f, 1000f, 2000f | ||||
| Rarely used | 10000f | ||||
| Coins | |||||
| Freq. used | 1f, 5f, 20f, 50f | ||||
| Rarely used | 50c | ||||
| Demographics | |||||
| User(s) | Belgium, Luxembourg | ||||
| Issuance | |||||
| Central bank | National Bank of Belgium | ||||
| Website | www.nbb.be | ||||
| Valuation | |||||
| EU Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) | |||||
| Since | 13 March 1979 | ||||
| Fixed rate since | 31 December 1998 | ||||
| Replaced by euro, non cash | 1 January 1999 | ||||
| Replaced by euro, cash | 1 January 2002 | ||||
| 1 € = | 40.3399 | ||||
The conquest of most of western Europe by revolutionary and Napoleonic France led to the French franc's wide circulation. In the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium), the franc replaced the kronenthaler.
Following independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the new Kingdom of Belgium in 1832 adopted its own franc, equivalent to the French one, followed by Luxembourg in 1848 and Switzerland in 1850. Newly-unified Italy adopted the lira on a similar basis in 1862.
In 1865 France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy created the Latin Monetary Union (to be joined by Greece in 1868): each would possess a national currency unit (franc, lira, drachma) worth 4.5 g of silver or 0.290 322 g of gold (fine), all freely exchangeable at a rate of 1:1. In the 1870s the gold value was made the fixed standard, a situation which was to continue until 1914.
In 1926, Belgium, as well as France, experienced depreciation and an abrupt collapse of confidence, leading to the introduction of a new gold currency for international transactions, the belga of 5 francs, and the country's withdrawal from the monetary union, which ceased to exist at the end of the year. The 1921 monetary union of Belgium and Luxembourg survived, however, forming the basis for full economic union in 1932.
Like the French franc, the Belgian/Luxembourgish franc ceased to exist in January 1, 1999, when it became fixed at 1 EUR= 40.3399 BEF/LUF, thus a franc was worth 0.024789 €. Old franc coins and notes lost their legal tender status in February 28, 2002.
1 Luxembourgish franc was equal to 1 Belgian franc. Belgian francs were legal tender inside Luxembourg and Luxembourg francs were legal tender in Belgium. Nevertheless, payment with Luxembourg banknotes were commonly denied by shopkeepers in Belgium, either by ignorance or by fear that their other customers would refuse the banknotes (again, either by ignorance or fear of being denied payment with it later), forcing them to go through the hassle of a trip to their bank to redeem the value of the banknote.
Coins
The denominations of the Belgian franc in previously circulation are:
| Previously Circulating Coins | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Value | Diameter | Weight | Composition | Obverse | Reverse | Minted Year |
| 20 francs | 20 francs | ?? mm | ?? g | ?? | ?? | ?? | 1980 |
| 5 francs | 5 francs | ?? mm | ?? g | ?? | ?? | ?? | 1950 |
| 5 francs | 5 francs | ?? mm | ?? g | ?? | ?? | ?? | 1988 |
| 1 franc | 1 franc | ?? mm | ?? g | ?? | ?? | ?? | 1977 |
| 1 franc | 1 franc | ?? mm | ?? g | ?? | ?? | ?? | 1988 |
| 50 Centimes | 50 Centimes | ?? mm | ?? g | ?? | ?? | ?? | 1987 |
| These images are to scale at ?? pixels per millimeter, a standard for world coins. | |||||||
Banknotes
- 100 francs: James Ensor
- 200 francs: Adolphe Sax
- 500 francs: René Magritte
- 1000 francs: Constant Permeke
- 2000 francs: Victor Horta
- 10000 francs: Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola of Belgium