Tunisia is one of few countries still with a currency unit divided into thousand parts. This system is 1 Tunisian Dinar = 1000 Millim. The current Tunisan coins are 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 Millim and 1/2 and 1 Dinar. The 5 Millim coin's value is equivalent to just one-third of a U.S. Cent.
    We are all used to "commemorative" coins with denominations higher or the same as those in circulation - but Tunisia has something different. All of the recent coins of the F.A.O. "XXI Century Food Security" series are small denominations from around the world. One of the coins in this series is Tunisia and it is a 1 Millim coin. One Millim is less than one-tenth of a U.S.Cent and this denomination no longer circulates in Tunisia.

    This "commemorative" 1 Millim is larger than the Tunisian 1 Millim circulation coins were, but are not as big as the 5 Millim circulation coins. (Likewise - the Namibian 5 Cent coins of this series differ significantly in size from their circulation counterparts.)

    For more information on F.A.O. coins of Africa and the world see Juan's World FAO Coins . (Juan’s site is not currently working.)

    Further details of the “XXI Century Food Security” series including the existence of 1999 dated pieces of the Tunisia 1 Millim type can be found on the SOMALIA page on this site.
 
 

    UPDATE - In May 2002 at I came across news of a new coinage type for Tunisia. The details as given on the site of the Central Bank of Tunisia at http://www.bct.gov.tn/english/actualites/index1.html were that the 2nd of April 2002 was the first day of issue in Tunisia of bi-metallic 5 Dinars coins for circulation. Further details of the new coin appeared on another page of the site http://www.bct.gov.tn/english/musee/diaporama/independance/diapo029.html , that page included an image of the new coin, a description of the design (remembering the life of the late Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba) and the basic physical characteristics (inner alloy CuNi, outer alloy CuAlNi, diameter 29mm, mass 10 grams and edge of 6 reeded and 6 plain sections).

    The face value of these new coins is particularly high for a circulation coin. Possibly the USD equivalent of this coin (around 3.60 USD) is higher than that of any other bi-metallic coin currently in circulation. Of all coins currently in circulation the Japanese 500 Yen coins do work out higher (around 4.15 USD) but they are not bi-metallic. (USD rates as per World Coin News of September 2002.)
    The dates on the coin are 2002 and 1423. 2002 is of course the “A.D.” date and 1423 is the "A.H." date, this is the al-Hejira calendar, as used in the Muslim world. The year AH1423 started on 15th March 2002AD, just over two weeks before the issue of the new coin. The other dates on the coin are “2000-1903”, (apparently reversed, but actually the normal way around to readers of Arabic) representing the lifetime of Habib Bourguiba under who’s portrait they appear.
    Habib Bourguiba was most important to the formation of the Republic of Tunisia, playing an important role in the ending of French colonial rule in Tunisia and having been involved with that cause for around 20 years prior to independence. With independence achieved, Tunisia soon established itself as a republic, this was on 25th of July 1957. Bourguiba served as Tunisia’s first president from that time until November 1987 when he was deposed. Bourguiba died 6th April 2000.