madagascar completes currency switch madagascar has completed the replacement of its malagasy franc with a new currency  the ariary.  from monday  all prices and contracts will have to be quoted in the ariary  which was trading at 1 893 to the us dollar. the malagasy franc  which lost almost half its value in 2004  is no longer legal tender but will remain exchangeable at banks until 2009. the phasing out of the franc  begun in july 2003  was intended to distance the country from its past under french colonial rule and address the problem of the large amount of counterfeit francs in circulation.  it s above all a question of sovereignty   reuters quoted a central bank official as saying.  it is symbolic of our independence from the old colonial ways. since we left the french monetary zone in 1973 we should have our own currency with its own name.  the ariary was the name of a pre-colonial currency in the indian ocean island state.