Khmer Rouge Currency & Banknote Values

The Khmer Rouge series of Cambodia in the World Currency contains 5 distinct entries.

In March 1993, the Khmer Rouge outlawed the use of the National Bank of Cambodia’s banknotes in areas under its control. To replace the official riel notes, the Khmer Rouge printed its own notes in Anlong Veng and asserted the value of its silver riel to be equal to that of the Thai baht. These notes circulated in Anlong Veng and Pailin until August 1993, at which time the Khmer Rouge ordered the currency burned to prevent its seizure by Cambodian government troops.

The text on these notes is in Khmer, and consists of the name of the country (Kampuchea = Cambodia), the name of the signatory (Khieu Samphan), the name of the currency (prak riel = silver riel), and the denomination. The Western letters and numbers near the upper margins are not unique serial numbers; most notes observed have very similar numbers which differ only in the last digit.

Due to the high value of these notes and their non-existant security features, many counterfeits exist. Both real and fake notes were printed by four-color process lithography. Magnification of photographic portions of the notes reveals octagons composed of tiny dots in four colors (red, blue, yellow, black). On the real notes, the serial numbers, country name, and denomination text are in solid black, but on the fakes, these elements are composed of dots.