Currency of Eritrea 20 Nakfa banknote 1997
Bank of Eritrea
Bank of Eritrea
One side of the notes depicts the various ethnic groups in Eritrea, while the reverse side has typical scenes from various parts of the country.
Obverse: Triptych portrait of three young women of Eritrea's nine nationalities at center, flag raising at left, OVD (Optically Variable Device) Kinegram® vertical foil at left
Reverse: Three agricultural scenes - Farmer plowing with a camel, woman harvesting, woman on farm tractor at center right.
The notes depict Eritrean fighters raising the (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) EPLF flag — Very reminiscent to American soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima. The Bank of Eritrea logo is depicted on the back of each note.
Watermark: Camel head.
See-through image: Camel.
Printer: Giesecke & Devrient, Germany.
Size: 140 x 70 mm.
Issue Date: 24 May 1997
The nakfa is the currency of Eritrea. It was introduced on 8 November 1997 to replace the Ethiopian birr at par. Named after the town of Nakfa, it is divided into 100 cents. The town of Nakfa, the town in the Sahel mountains that served as the headquarters of the EPLF during Eritrea's armed struggle against Ethiopian occupation, and so both Nakfa's became a symbol of Eritrea's hard-fought-for independence. The nakfa banknotes were designed by a black American, Clarence Holbert of the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1994.