Meet the World's Newest Currency — Um, Make That Currencies

Spencer Platt

JUBA, SUDAN - JANUARY 09: Southern Sudanese celebrate at the end of the first day of voting for the independence referendum January 9, 2011 in Juba, Sudan. Southern Sudan is participating in an independence referendum today following a historic 2005 peace treaty that brought an end to decades of civil war between the Arab north and predominantly Christian and animist south. The south is expected to vote around 99 percent to secede from the north which will also give it a majority of Sudan's oil

With South Sudan the world's newest country, a brand new currency is also in the works. Now Sudan is also launching new money. But there's a hitch.

There was much celebration when South Sudan become a country on July 9. And on Monday, South Sudan's finance minister said the country would begin circulating its currency, pegged to its northern neighbor's, in the next week.

Surprise! Sudan today announced that it, too, would launch a new currency. That makes South Sudan's pegging plans a little complicated. What's even trickier is the question of how South Sudan can redeem the roughly 2 billion old Sudanese pounds circulating there.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese pound has been falling on the black market now that South Sudan has split off, along with about 75 percent of what were Sudan's oil reserves.

It just goes to show: breaking up is hard to do.

MULTI CURRENCIES vs The Dollar

CURRENCY FUTURES

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