Hryvnia is the national currency of Ukraine. However, few people know how it came from, where its name came from, and what it really is. This knowledge gap needs to be filled.
Where did the word "hryvnia" come from?
The name of such a monetary unit as the hryvnia is consonant with the Sanskrit word, which means “back of the head”. In history, you can find quite a lot of references to the fact that our ancestors wore golden hryvnias around their necks - round plates fastened together by wire. Often, these jewelry were used as a payment for any goods or services. The very name "hryvnia" comes from these same hryvnias used even in Kievan Rus. Since the founding of the Old Russian state, the hryvnia has had three meanings: a measure of weight, an insignia, and a coin. The currency of Ukraine under the same name appeared already during the existence of the Ukrainian People's Republic (early twentieth century).
The history of the hryvnia
Hryvnia is a monetary, counting and weight unit of Kievan Rus. In Europe it was called the "brand." As mentioned above, over time, the decoration acquired a different meaning, and began to correspond to the amount of valuable metal. Since the silver ingot was made up of a certain number of coins, an account of its constituent banknotes arose. Hryvnia, in the end, has become the main and only payment concept in Russia. Initially, the weight of that currency, which later will be called the “currency of Ukraine,” was the same. After the minting of ancient Russian zlatniks and silver pieces, in connection with the receipt of foreign coins, the main form of financial circulation in Kievan Rus began to be called "coin hryvnia". Already from the eleventh century, there were hexagonal hryvnias in circulation, which weighed approximately 150 g and served as a unit of payment until the Mongol-Tatar yoke. In the thirteenth century, the Novgorod ingots of silver began to be called rubles, and this word gradually replaced the hryvnia. It is believed that this is due to the fact that the latter was cut into several equal parts, which, incidentally, gave the name to the new banknote. Already from the fifteenth century, the hryvnia was no longer used as a means of payment, since the coinage of rubles increased significantly, which has since become fixed and has become the main unit in the monetary system.
"Revival" of the hryvnia in the twentieth century
The hryvnia, as the main currency of Ukraine, was introduced into the currency in 1996, September 2. Prior to this, since 1990, it was added to the Soviet rubles in the territory of the Ukrainian SSR and was used as one-time detachable coupons that were printed on A4 sheets.
Since January 1992, the government introduced the so-called coupons - temporary banknotes of Ukraine, which were denominated in rubles. They were called Carbovans.
Hryvnia as the official currency of Ukraine was introduced by special decree of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma on August 25, 1996. To exchange carbovanets to hryvnias, a exchange rate was needed. Ukraine, however, was not ready to print a huge number of banknotes, so the first batch saw the light in Canada.
Already in September 1996, the process of exchanging carbovanets-coupons for hryvnias began. The ratio was approximately the following: 100,000 Carbovans were equal to one hryvnia. Since then, all banks in the country issued exclusively hryvnia. The exchange procedure ended in 1998.
Denominations and symbols of notes
The symbol of the currency in question is the Cyrillic letter with two horizontal lines, which symbolize stability. The official reduction of the hryvnia is only "UAH." All other options are considered erroneous. The hryvnia sign was proposed on March 1 in 2004 and received the Unicode code U + 20B4. In 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR planned banknotes of the following denominations: 200, 100, 50, 25, 10, 5, 3, 1. Later, 3 and 25 were replaced by 2 and 20. There were also two reserve banknotes with face values of 200 and 5 hryvnia. By a resolution of February 12, 1996, the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the hryvnia denominations were supplemented by another reserve banknote of 500 hryvnias, which was put into circulation in September 2006.
The national currency of Ukraine
The hryvnia to the dollar during the first two years after its introduction was approximately the following: two hryvnias for one US dollar. After a strong crisis in 1998, the ratio rapidly dropped to five and a half UAH. for a dollar. Since 2005, the National Bank of Ukraine has maintained a stable fixed rate, but after July 2008 it became floating. Around the same time, the following exchange rates were established:
1. Ukrainian hryvnia to ruble: 4 rubles for one hryvnia.
2. The exchange rate of the currency of Ukraine to the euro was six to one.
3. Ukrainian hryvnia to the dollar: one to five.
In the spring of 2014, the hryvnia against the US currency reached its maximum in history: almost fifteen to one. But with respect to the Russian ruble, it fell slightly: now the hryvnia can be bought for three and a half rubles. The National Bank of Ukraine predicts the strengthening of the national currency against the dollar and the euro by the end of this year and promises to maintain the exchange rate no higher than twelve hryvnia for one dollar.