<P> At the liberation, the US attempted to impose use of the US occupation franc, which was averted by General De Gaulle . </P> <P> After World War II, France devalued its currency within the Bretton Woods system on several occasions . Beginning in 1945 at a rate of 480 francs to the British pound (119.1 to the U.S. dollar), by 1949 the rate was 980 to the pound (350 to the dollar). This was reduced further in 1957 and 1958, reaching 1382.3 to the pound (493.7 to the dollar, equivalent to 1 franc = 1.8 mg pure gold). </P> <P> In January 1960 the French franc was revalued, with 100 existing francs making one nouveau franc . The abbreviation "NF" was used on the 1958 design banknotes until 1963 . Old one - and two - franc pieces continued to circulate as centimes (no new centimes were minted for the first two years). The one - centime coin never circulated widely . Inflation continued to erode the franc's value: between 1950 and 1960, the price level increased 72 per cent (5.7% per year on average); between 1960 and 1970, it increased 51 per cent (4.2%). Only one further major devaluation occurred (11% in August 1969) before the Bretton Woods system was replaced by free - floating exchange rates . When the euro replaced the franc on 1 January 1999, the franc was worth less than an eighth of its original 1960 purchasing power . </P> <P> After revaluation and the introduction of the new franc, many French people continued to use old francs (anciens francs), to describe large sums (throughout the 1980s and well in to the 1990s and virtually until the introduction of the euro, many people, old and young--even those who had never used the old franc--were still referring to the old franc, confusing people). For example, lottery prizes were most often advertised in amounts of centimes, equivalent to the old franc, to inflate the perceived value of the prizes at stake . Multiples of 10NF were occasionally referred to as "mille francs" (thousand francs) or "mille balles" ("balle" being a slang word for franc) in contexts where it was clear that the speaker did not mean 1,000 new francs . The expression "heavy franc" (franc lourd) was also commonly used to designate the new franc . </P>

What is the name of the currency used in france