5 Qəpik

Azerbaijan's first decimal coinage was issued in 1993 as the manat replaced the Soviet ruble following independence in 1991 — a two-year gap that left the country briefly reliant on ruble stocks while the central bank established minting arrangements. The aluminium composition reflects both cost constraints and the hyperinflationary environment of the early post-Soviet transition, during which the manat itself lost value rapidly against the dollar throughout the mid-1990s.