The Gambian Dalasi is the official currency for Gambia, a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country in Africa, surrounded by Senegal, except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia River, the nation's namesake, flows through the country's centre and before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. The country has an area of almost 10,500 km² with an estimated population of 1,700,000.
Economy
Gambia has a liberal market economy characterized by traditional subsistence agriculture, with an historical dependence of groundnuts (peanuts) for export earnings.
There is a re-export trade based on the country’s sea port, its low import duties, a minimum of administrative procedures, a fluctuating exchange rate, and lack of exchange controls.
Tourism has become a fast-growing sector of the economy, contributing 12% of the country's GDP according to a government web site.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund provide differing figures for GDP in 2009: USD $ 733m and $ 968m respectively.
Agriculture accounts for approximately 30% of gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 70% of the workforce. Within agriculture, peanut production accounts for 6.9% of GDP, 8.3% for other crops, livestock 5.3%, 1.8% for fisheries, and forestry at 0.5%.
Limited production output is mainly based on agricultural products (e.g., peanut processing, bakeries, a brewery and a tannery).
History
The Gambian Dalasi is subdivided into 100 bututs.
The Dalasi was adopted in 1971. It replaced the Gambian Pound at a rate of 1 Pound = 5 Dalasi. In 1971, coins in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 bututs and 1 Gambian Dalasi were introduced. These coins used design elements from the previous coins denominated in shillings.
1 dalasi notes were issued between 1971 and 1987. New 1 dalasi coins were introduced in 1987, modeled on the 50 pence coin of the United Kingdom.
Only 25 and 50 bututs and 1 dalasi coins are currently in circulation; they are of the 1998 issue which also included 1, 5 and 10 bututs coins.
Banknotes currently in circulation are 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 Gambian Dalasi. Current banknotes were issued in 1996 and reprinted in 2001.
