1. Commodity money: This is a form of money based upon a specific commodity. In other words certain commodities were used as money to facilitate transaction in the past. Commodity money took the form of various commodities such as beads, shells, cattle, precious metals, cowries etc. These commodities had an intrinsic value of their own, which could yield utility or consumer satisfaction to their owners.
2. Representative money: This form of money included bank notes or paper money issued by the Goldsmith on receipt of gold, silver and other forms of precious metals. Banknotes became early representative of money issued by privately owned banks. Although, they were worthless pieces of papers, people accepted them as money because they represented ownership of gold with Goldsmiths which had intrinsic value.
3. Token money: This is one of the modem forms of money composed of banknotes, coins and bank deposits. Banknotes and coins constitute cash or currency of a given country. It is the central bank that has the monopoly to issue coins and banknotes that make up the currency of a country. Banknotes are money printed on special papers by the central bank of a country that is used as an acceptable medium of exchange. They constitute the legal tender. Bank notes may be convertible, or inconvertible.

• Convertible banknotes: A convertible banknote is a currency that can easily be exchanged for another currency or gold. The rate of exchange is usually determined by the forces of demand and supply in the exchange market For example, the franc CFA is a convertible currency because it has an exchange rate with the French franc, the Dollar, the Yen, the Lira amongst others. The convertibility of currencies facilitates international trade.
• Inconvertible banknotes: This is a currency which cannot easily be exchanged with another currency. Examples are coins and bank deposits. Coins are pieces of metals of different sizes bearing an imprint of the central bank which is the issuing authority. Their face values are certified by the central bank. In Cameroon we have coins of the denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 FRS CFA.

4. Bank deposit: Bank deposits are a sum of money held on deposit with commercial or savings banks.

There are two main types of deposits e. g. sight deposit usually referred to as current account and withdrawal on demand and time deposit referred to as savings account withdrawal on notice to the bank. Sight deposits represent instant liquidity and are used to finance day-to-day transactions and regular payments in the form of currency withdrawal or cheque transfer.

A cheque is simply an order to pay the bearer or drawer a certain sum of money stated on the cheque by the issuer or drawer. Cheques facilitate the transfer of money from one person's account to another. This operation forms the basis of bank credit creation.

Hence, cheques are a means of transfer of funds as are postal orders, mandate, money orders, bills of exchange and postage stamps. Time deposits are held for longer periods and are used to meet irregular payments or as savings.

5. Fiat money: Fiat money is currency that is issued and declared as legal tender by the · government but which is not backed by government holdings of gold or other securities. Its value is determined by the relationship between demand and supply and not the value of the material that it is made of. Fiat money has no intrinsic value and is money simply because the law has mandated it to be so.

6. Fiduciary money: It is a form of money whose value depends on the confidence people place on it as a medium of exchange. It originated as a paper certificate that was a promise to pay the bearer certain amount of gold and silver.
7. Legal tender: A legal tender is anything which the law compels everybody in a country to accept as a medium of exchange in their day-to-day transactions and payment of debts. For example, cash or banknotes and coins are legal tenders in different countries. In Cameroon and the other CEMAC member countries, the franc CFA is a legal lender just as you have the Naira and Cedi in Nigeria and Ghana respectively. Note that the legal tender in one country may not be a legal tender in another country. For example, the franc CFA is not a legal tender in Nigeria and vice versa.

                           “Near money” is a highly liquid asset that can easily be converted into money. Examples of 'near money' include: Building Society deposits, securities such as stocks, bonds, shares, bills of exchange, treasury bills, postal orders, money orders amongst others. The difference between money and near money is that near money is not generally accepted as a medium of exchange as is the case with money.