The Malagasy ariary (ISO 4217: MGA) is the currency of Madagascar.
One of only two circulating currencies in the world with division units not based on a power of ten, each ariary comprises five iraimbilanja. (The other non-decimal currency is the Mauritanian ouguiya.) The names Ariary and iraimbilanja derive from the pre-colonial currency. Iraimbilanja means literally "one iron weight", and was the name of an old coin worth 1/5 of the ariary.
The ariary replaced the French colonial currency, the Malagasy franc (also known as by its French name, the franc malgache) (ISO 4217: MGF), on July 31, 2003. One Malagasy franc was valued at 0.2 ariarys; that is, one iriambilanja.
Coins and banknotes had long been denominated in both the official francs and the semi-official ariary and iraimbilanja. Previously, the franc denomination was most prominant. Now, the ariary denomination is displayed prominantly, and the franc denomination in small print.
As of January 19, 2005 there were 1,760.04 ariary to the US dollar or 2,285.95 to the Euro.
Coins in circulation [1]
- Iraimbilanja (1/5 Ariary)
- Venty sy Kirobo (2/5 Ariary)
- 1 Ariary
- 2 Ariary
- 4 Ariary
- 5 Ariary
- 10 Ariary
- 20 Ariary
- 50 Ariary
Banknotes in circulation [2]
- 100 Ariary
- 200 Ariary
- 500 Ariary
- 1000 Ariary
- 2000 Ariary
- 5000 Ariary
- 10000 Ariary
Plus older banknotes in denominations of
- 50 FMG (Malagasy Francs ) (10 Ariary)
- 100 FMG (20 Ariary)
- 500 FMG (100 Ariary)
- 1000 FMG (200 Ariary)
- 2500 FMG (500 Ariary)
- 5000 FMG (1000 Ariary)
