Banana money

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A ten dollar banana note.

Banana money is an informal term given to a type of currency issued by Imperial Japan during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, and was named as such because of the motifs of banana trees on the banknotes. It was in widespread use within the occupied territories where the previous currency became a scarcity. To supply the authorities with money whenever they required it, they simply printed more notes. This resulted in high inflation and a severe depreciation in value of the banana note. Moreover, counterfeiting was rampant due to its lack of a serial number.

As with other currencies issued by Japan in occupied territories, local residents were forced to adopt this type of currency. After the surrender of Japan, the currency became entirely worthless, and to this day the Japanese government has refused to exchange these currencies. Some locals managed to escape poverty because they had hidden Straits dollars, the previous currency before the Japanese invaded. Those with hidden stashes of Straits Dollar were thus able to use them the moment the British resumed control of Singapore, when they became valid again.