René Pleven, the French minister of finance, was quoted saying: "In a show of her generosity and selflessness, metropolitan France, wishing not to impose on her far-away daughters the consequences of her own poverty, is setting different exchange rates for their currency.

However, the CFP franc was set at a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar, which played a major role in the economy of the French Pacific territories on account of World War II.

The largest denomination 10,000 CFP franc banknote (€83.80) was first issued in 1986, and omitted the capital city name.

In 2014, a single set of new banknote designs and smaller sizes were introduced, identical in both New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

One side of the banknotes shows landscapes or historical figures from French Polynesia, the other from New Caledonia.

They could be used interchangeably in all three French territories, in a similar way to the use of euro coins (with distinct national obverse sides) in all countries of the eurozone.

The New Caledonian series is marked with "Nouvelle Caledonie" on the reverse side and was circulated mainly in New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna.

The reverse designs depicted landscapes, plants, or animals typical of the region, as well as the coin denomination.

[1] The obverses of all the coins features a single wavy-line design, with the IEOM issuer and year engraved around the edge, and the denomination value.

Each coin denomination has a single reverse design depicting landscapes, artefacts, flora and fauna from all three territories.

The IEOM began issuing banknotes in New Hebrides in 1965, and in New Caledonia and French Polynesia in 1969, in 500, 1,000, and 5,000 franc denominations.

One side of the banknote shows landscapes or historical figures from New Caledonia, the other from French Polynesia.

The word dollar became tārā (often written without accents as tara, or tala), and this term is still used among native Tahitian and local Chinese traders as an unofficial unit, worth 5 francs.