20 Nakfa

Eritrea's 1997 banknote series — including this 20 Nakfa — was the country's first full domestic currency issue, replacing the Ethiopian birr that had circulated following independence in 1993. The nakfa itself was introduced in November 1997, and the timing was deliberately linked to ongoing tensions with Ethiopia over trade and monetary policy; Addis Ababa's decision to require hard currency for bilateral trade had effectively made a separate Eritrean currency both politically necessary and economically urgent.

Giesecke & Devrient's involvement was expected for a new sovereign issue of this period, and Clarence Holbert — a designer with prior African currency work — handled the series. The nakfa takes its name from the town of Nakfa in the Sahel region, a stronghold during the independence war.