Last updated: September 2026

What currency does Angola use?

The kwanza, issued by the Banco Nacional de Angola. Its ISO 4217 alphabetic code is AOA and its numeric code is 9731, and the bank's own note on how to write the currency records that under Angolan legislation, Lei 11/99 de 12 de Novembro, article 1, number 1, the kwanza carries the abbreviation Kz.

That 1999 law matters more than a style guide suggests, because it is the legal marker of the currency unit Angola still uses. The bank sets out the international nomenclature too: the currency name in English is Angolan Kwanza, the fractional unit is one hundredth, and the AOA code is for international, business and banking use (Banco Nacional de Angola, rules for writing the national currency, via the Internet Archive).

Five denominations make up the current family: 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 kwanzas. Four of them are polymer, which makes Angola one of the more committed users of the material in Africa.

What did Angolans use as money before banknotes?

Shells, cloth, salt, ivory, copper and beads, each in its own era. The Banco Nacional de Angola runs a money museum in Luanda, the Museu da Moeda, and its account of the kwanza's ancestry is a list of physical commodities rather than coins.

The museum starts with the nzimbu, a small grey shell gathered on the beaches of the island of Luanda, mostly by women, with the grey examples considered the most valuable. It describes the nzimbu as a unit of account that circulated in the Kongo kingdom for centuries before the first Portuguese reached the territory in 1482, and notes that the sovereign of Kongo could restrict or increase the quantity and value in the local market as needed (Museu da Moeda, Banco Nacional de Angola, pre-colonial monetary symbols, via the Internet Archive).

Then come the others. Libongos, small pieces of cloth made from the fibres of the palmeira-bordão in many sizes and qualities, with painted cloths the most valuable. Salt from the mines and salt pans of Kisama, cut into stones and bars with a chisel and carried on porters' backs to the selling regions. Ivory, which by the end of the sixteenth century had become an export the royal treasury accepted in payment of taxes. Copper, worked by the smiths of the Kongo, Ndongo and Lunda regions into knives, hoes, arrows, bracelets and necklaces that circulated as money. The cauri shell, and finally beads made of seeds, aromatic roots, ivory, bone and teeth (Museu da Moeda, Banco Nacional de Angola, the history of money, via the Internet Archive).

What are the Banco de Angola escudo notes?

They are the paper money of the colonial period, issued by the Banco de Angola and denominated in escudos. For collectors they are the most conventionally attractive Angolan notes, engraved to a European standard and printed by the big London security printers.

The catalogue records the detail. A 20 escudos of the 1956 issue, catalogued as Pick 87, is lilac on multicolour with a portrait of Porto at right and a dock at left, and a running gazelle in red-brown on the back, printed by Thomas De La Rue (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 20 escudos of 1956). A 100 escudos of the 1973 issue, Pick 106, carries Luís de Camões at right, a tree on the back and a Camões watermark (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 100 escudos of 1973, read September 2026).

Those two notes bracket the era neatly: wildlife and harbour scenes at the start, a poet at the end. The same design language ran through the other Portuguese-administered territories, which is why collectors of Angola so often collect our Mozambique banknotes as well, and why the Portuguese thread leads on to Brazil.

When did the kwanza replace the escudo?

After independence, which was declared on 11 November 1975 by Agostinho Neto, Angola's first president. The catalogue's first kwanza family is the 1976 issue of the Banco Nacional de Angola, and Neto is on the front of the notes catalogued here.

The designs are documentary rather than ceremonial. The 50 kwanzas of 1976, Pick 110a, is purple, brown and black, with António Agostinho Neto at right and field workers with the arms at lower left on the back (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 50 kwanzas of 1976). The 1,000 kwanzas of the same year, Pick 113a, is red on a multicolour underprint, with Neto at right and a school class on the back (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 1,000 kwanzas of 1976, read September 2026).

The next family changed the portrait arrangement. From the 1984 to 1987 issue the notes carry conjoined busts of José Eduardo dos Santos and António Agostinho Neto at right, and the reverses widen the subject matter: an offshore oil platform with a worker on the 500 kwanzas, Pick 120, and a dockside scene on the 1,000 kwanzas, Pick 121. Both denominations exist with two signature and date combinations, 7 January 1984 with signature 14 and 11 November 1987 with signature 15 (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 500 kwanzas of 1984 to 1987, read September 2026).

What happened to the kwanza in the 1990s?

The denominations climbed, the currency was renamed, and then it was renamed back. By the 1991 issue the Banco Nacional de Angola was printing a 100,000 kwanzas note. By 1995 the notes were denominated in kwanzas reajustados and reached 5,000,000. From 1999 the catalogue is back to plain kwanzas.

The inflation behind that sequence is documented by the World Bank, and the figures below are annual, not monthly. Angolan consumer price inflation ran at 1,378.5 percent in 1993, 949.8 percent in 1994, 2,666.5 percent in 1995 and 4,145.1 percent in 1996, its peak year in the series, before falling to 248.2 percent in 1999 and then to 22.9 percent by 2005 (World Bank, World Development Indicators, series FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG). Severe as those numbers are, Angola is not among the episodes listed on our page ranking every hyperinflation, which measures monthly rather than annual rates. Our list of currency redenominations puts the renaming of a unit in its wider context.

Two notes from this stretch are worth singling out. The 100,000 kwanzas of the 1991 issue, Pick 133, shows a sable antelope herd and a shell on the back and is watermarked with the conjoined busts; the catalogue also lists an error variety, Pick 133x, whose microprint around the watermark area reads 10000 BNA with a latent print reading 10000 DEZ MIL and a 10,000 watermark, in other words a 100,000 note carrying a 10,000 note's security printing (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 100,000 kwanzas of 1991). And the 5,000,000 kwanzas reajustados of 1995, Pick 142, puts the Serra da Leba on the back (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 5,000,000 kwanzas reajustados), a mountain pass that returned to Angolan money a quarter of a century later on the 2,000 kwanzas of the current family (Banknote News, 25 November 2020). Our guide to banknote error types explains why a mismatch like Pick 133x is collected in its own right.

Angolan banknote series at a glance

Periods, units, denominations and designs below come from the PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, the Banco Nacional de Angola and the trade press, as cited in the text. Material is given only where a source states it.

What is the polymer family of 2020?

It is Angola's current money, and it was issued to mark an anniversary. According to a Banco Nacional de Angola press release dated 7 July 2020, the bank introduced a new family of notes to commemorate the 45th anniversary of independence, declared on 11 November 1975 by Agostinho Neto, whose portrait appears on the fronts, with natural wonders of the country on the backs.

The rollout ran denomination by denomination. The 200 kwanzas was scheduled for 30 July 2020, the 500 for September, the 1,000 for October and the 2,000 for November, with a paper 5,000 kwanzas following in January 2021. The four lower values were printed on polymer to increase durability, and the bank said at the time that a 10,000 kwanza note was not expected unless absolutely necessary (Banknote News, 7 July 2020). The 200 kwanzas was confirmed in issued and specimen form after its introduction on 30 July 2020 (Banknote News, 29 August 2020).

The trade record for the individual notes is unusually complete. The 500 kwanzas is brown, 126 by 66 mm, printed on SafeGuard polymer, carrying António Agostinho Neto on the front and the Fenda da Tundavala viewpoint in Huíla province with the coat of arms on the back, dated April 2020 with the signature of Massano, and it entered circulation on 17 September 2020 (Banknote News, 27 October 2020). The 5,000 kwanzas is lilac, 144 by 74 mm, on paper, with Neto and a Bakama mask on the front and the Kulumbimbi church ruins at M'Banza Kongo in Zaire province on the back, watermarked with The Thinker and an electrotype 5000, and it was introduced on 4 February 2021 (Banknote News, 18 February 2021). The 2,000 kwanzas is green, 138 by 74 mm, on Guardian polymer printed by Crane, and its back shows the winding road through the Serra de Leba pass in Namibe province (Banknote News, 25 November 2020).

The family is still being reprinted, which is what keeps it collectable. New signature and date varieties dated November 2023, with the signature of Manuel António Tiago Dias, were confirmed for the 1,000 and 2,000 kwanzas in October 2024 (Banknote News, 21 October 2024). For what changes when a country moves to plastic, see our comparison of polymer and paper banknotes, and for a neighbouring African currency with its own long denomination ladder, our Zaire banknotes hub.

What are old Angolan banknotes worth?

Most circulated Angolan paper is inexpensive, and the premiums sit with specimens and with the error variety. Catalogue values below are in US dollars from the PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, read in September 2026, at Very Good 8, Very Fine 20 and Uncirculated 60. Catalogue values are a reference point, not a quote.

Two rows repay attention. The 2,000 kwanzas of the 1999 and 2003 issue is catalogued far above the crisis-era millions, because a high-value working note from a stable period is scarcer in uncirculated grade than an emergency note nobody kept in a wallet (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, Angola 2,000 kwanzas, read September 2026). And a 1976 specimen is catalogued at several times the issued note. Our pages on specimen notes, what determines banknote value and Pick numbers explain both effects.

How do you start collecting Angolan banknotes?

Pick the 1976 kwanza issue first. It is the country's first national currency, it is documented denomination by denomination in the catalogue, and circulated examples are among the least expensive first notes of any newly independent state.

Then choose your second lane. The escudo notes of the Banco de Angola are the lane for anyone who collects engraving, with London printers and classical portraits. The 1984 to 1987 and 1991 issues are the lane for signature and date varieties, since several denominations exist in two dated combinations. The 2020 polymer family is the modern lane, and it is still growing: new signature and date varieties have been recorded for the 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 kwanzas since 2023.

Learn the grading ladder before you spend. Grades run from Uncirculated down through AU, XF, VF, F, VG and G, and the certified market uses a 1 to 70 scale: see our banknote grading guide and graded versus raw banknotes. Polymer creases permanently rather than folding softly, so read how to store banknotes before you sleeve the modern notes, and banknote security features explains the windowed threads and watermarks described above.

Where can you buy Angolan banknotes?

Buy from an established dealer that authenticates every note, documents where it came from, and stands behind it in writing. Prices far below every other seller, vague sourcing and no returns are the signals to walk away from.

Planet Banknote sources notes direct from mints, central banks and authorized distributors rather than reselling anonymous lots. Browse the current selection through the banknotes by country directory, where availability changes with what has been sourced. Our guide to buying world banknotes safely and how to collect world banknotes cover the rest.

Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.