What Is the French Franc (F)?
The French franc (F) was once the national international cash of France prior to France’s adoption of the euro (EUR) in January 2002. Prior to its selection during the EUR, the franc was once administered during the Monetary establishment of France and was once constructed from 100 subunits, or ‘centimes.’
The franc was once available in coin denominations of 1, 5, 10, and 20 centimes; and in 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 francs. Its banknotes have been available in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 francs.
Key Takeaways
- The French franc was once the national international cash of France prior to its adoption of the euro.
- The franc has a longer history relationship once more more than 600 years.
- France had been a long-standing recommend of Ecu monetary integration prior to the adoption of the euro in 2002.
Working out the French Franc (F)
The history of the French franc begins in 1360, following the clutch of King John II thru England during the Battle of Poitiers—a seminal battle of the Hundred Years’ Battle. To be able to manage to pay for his ransom, France was once pressured to mint new gold money. One franc coin contained the image of King John II free from captivity on horseback, while some other coin showed him free on foot. The French phrases for the ones two pictures, “franc à cheval” and “franc à pied,” caught on. Briefly, shoppers of the money referred to them simply as “francs.”
The French Revolution was once a time of primary political and fiscal upheaval, during which changes to the national international cash have been introduced on numerous occasions. One such exchange was once the arrival of a brand spanking new gold franc in 1803, containing 290.32 mg of gold. This was once the main gold coin to be denominated in francs, and it depicted Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France. This new coin, and the other iterations which followed them, have been popularly known as “Gold Napoleons” and have been broadly praised for their status as sound money.
For the reason that French monetary gadget industrialized all the way through the 19th century, the franc grew to grow to be a very powerful international international cash. In 1865, France was once a founding member of the Latin Monetary Union, an early attempt to unite Ecu economies underneath one international cash. The union was once first in keeping with a bimetallic standard alternatively later switched to an atypical primarily based utterly handiest on gold. Following International Battle II, France persevered its advocacy for extra integration of Ecu currencies. In 1992, the French public licensed the passage of the Maastricht Treaty, which serves as the basis for the Ecu Union and the implementation of the euro. This approval put the country on the path to establishing the euro. On Jan. 1, 2002, France finalized its adoption of the euro, following a three-year transitional length during which each and every the franc and the euro have been treated as prison comfy.
Exact-International Example of the French Franc (F)
The franc spotted its price decline precipitously inside of the type of 100-year length prior to the adoption of the euro. This was once due in large part to the two International Wars, which required France to undergo important wartime spending. This inflationary power, combined with the important destruction of belongings resulted in during the preventing, contributed to a prolonged downward slide inside the price of the franc during the main a part of the 20 th century. Even supposing its price stabilized briefly during the 1930s, the outbreak of International Battle II led to an extra erosion of shopping for power.
By contrast to this turbulent history, the euro has been moderately cast since its adoption thru France in 2002. Between 2002 and 2020, the euro has seen its price range from a low of roughly $0.85 U.S. greenbacks (USD) consistent with euro to a most sensible of as regards to $1.60 USD consistent with euro. France’s gross house product (GDP) has grown thru about 1.2% consistent with year since 2002, whilst its inflation value has held solid at spherical 1.4% consistent with year.
