The official Polish currency (currency) is called the zloty. It equates to 100 pennies. Banknotes with a face value of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 zlotys are in circulation in the country. Coins with denominations of 1.2 and 5 zloty are widely distributed. There are also coins 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 pennies. Residents of the country, especially students, often use coins for daily purchases due to the low cost of goods.
What is zloty?
Since 1995, the Polish currency has been officially named the Polish New Zloty. In foreign exchange markets and exchange offices it is customary to use PLN reduction. It was in 1995 that the last financial reform in the country was carried out. Banknotes and coins of a new type came into use. In accordance with the new legislation, it was decided to carry out exchange operations at the following rate: 10 thousand old zlotys are equal to 1 new zloty.
After 20 years, many residents of the state still use prices in the old format in conversations. So, 10 million zlotys is only 1 thousand. The exchange of US dollars and euros for zloty is carried out not only in banks and exchange offices, but also in hotels, at bus stations, at airports and at railway stations.
Interesting but fact
Poland has been a member of the European Union for almost 20 years, but this fact in no way affects the popularity of the national currency. The country is not in a hurry to switch to the euro. The Polish currency belongs to the category of easily convertible currency units, and you can change it to another one freely in almost all countries of the world. Tourists are advised to change euros or dollars not in banks, following European practice, but in special exchange offices. There, the Polish currency is more attractive. You can withdraw funds from Visa or Maestro cards at almost any ATM, but sometimes it’s much more profitable to pay using cards. When paying for goods or services, conversion will be carried out at the exchange rate of the tourist country.
The name of the Polish currency originated in the XIV-XV centuries. Then all gold foreign ducats were called zloty. The first zloty was 60 pennies and bore the name "polkopa".
Features
The Polish currency was created taking into account the needs of people with low vision. For this purpose, convex symbols are located on each banknote, which vary depending on the face value. A circle is located at 20 zlotys, a rhombus at 50, a “+” sign at 100, and a triangle at 200. The government has repeatedly changed the format of money. If in the XIV-XV centuries dinars, replacing the national currency at that time, looked like thick coins, then after several centuries, the coins became so thin that they even tended to break. In 1924, a new monetary system was approved. For the first time, the zloty was divided into 100 pennies. The cost of the country's monetary unit was estimated at 0.1687 grams of gold.
The exchange rate of the Polish currency today
Today, the zloty is almost the most stable domestic European currency. Polish zloty, despite the onslaught of the dollar in 2008, successfully survived the crisis.
As of March 17, 2015, the national currency rate of Poland amounted to:
- 1 euro - 4.020 PLN.
- 1 dollar - 3,775 PLN.
- 1 PLN - 13.1603 rubles.
Currency pairs in the financial market in which zloty is present are not very common among small speculators and large players. Low volatility and relative uncertainty of the currency are the factors that determined the place of the Polish currency in the world market. The state’s plans were to switch to the euro in 2012, but the situation in the world changed all priorities. Only after the state fulfilled the requirements of the ECB, the zloty became a full member of the EU financial system. Several factors simultaneously affect the exchange rate: the general state of affairs in the EU and the sovereign rating of Poland.