Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: What is the Polish currency?
The złoty (pronounced [ˈzwɔtɨ](listen);[2] sign: zł; code: PLN), which is the masculine form of the Polish adjective 'golden', is the currency of Poland. The modern złoty is subdivided into 100 groszy (singular: grosz; alternative plural form: grosze). The recognised English form of the word is zloty, plural zloty or zlote.[3] The currency sign, zł, is composed of the Polish lower-case letters z and ł (Unicode: U+007AzLATIN SMALL LETTER Z & U+0142łLATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH STROKE).
At the most basic level, monetary policy involves establishing what form of currency the country may have, whether a fiat currency, gold-backed currency (disallowed for countries in the International Monetary Fund), currency board or a currency union. When a country has its own national currency, this involves the issue of some form of standardized currency, which is essentially a form of promissory note: a promise to exchange the note for "money" under certain circumstances. Historically, this was often a promise to exchange the money for precious metals in some fixed amount. Now, when many currencies are fiat money, the "promise to pay" consists of the promise to accept that currency to pay for taxes.
The Polish 100 Złotych note is a denomination of Polish currency. The note is used as the sole currency in Poland and used daily by about 38,6 million of people.
As Western currency came into the country from emigrant families and foreign workers, the government in turn attempted to gather it up by various means, most visibly by establishing a chain of state-run Pewex and Baltona stores in all Polish cities, where goods could only be bought with hard currency. It even introduced its own ersatz U.S. currency (bony PeKaO in Polish).[22] This paralleled the financial practices in East Germany running its own ration stamps at the same time.[22] The trend led to an unhealthy state of affairs where the chief determinant of economic status was access to hard currency. This situation was incompatible with any remaining ideals of socialism, which were soon completely abandoned at the community level.
States that ratify the Convention agree to criminalise the creation, use, and exportation or importation of counterfeit currency. Under the agreement, no distinction is to be made as to what currency is the subject of the crime. Under the treaty, currency counterfeiting is an extraditable offence. States also agree to establish a central office that will forward to all other state parties cancelled specimens of their state's currency and notify the other states when changes to their currency are implemented.
The Soviet authorities attempted to remove all signs of Polish existence and activity in the area. On 21 December, the Polish currency was withdrawn from circulation with limited exchange to the newly introduced ruble. In schools, Polish language books were burned.
However, Weinbaum was also highly critical of what he termed "the wild assertions of some of the Israelis who have weighed in with sweeping charges of Polish culpability for the Holocaust, and erroneous, disparaging declarations about the provenance of Auschwitz." In a 1998 article he wrote that "Part of the hostility to Poland [in Jewish circles] is based on the entirely false impression that Germany chose occupied Poland as the venue for their death camps because they could count on Polish cooperation in carrying out the Final Solution. Although there is no historical evidence to support that contention, it has gained wide currency and credence ... Careless reference to 'Polish extermination camps', rather than German or Nazi camps, has also played a part in fostering this perception."
There was one thing that did not change: the official name of the currency. Although the ISO 4217 was altered the relevant legislation made the point that the official name of the currency is still the złoty. New Polish złoty is an unofficial way to address the Polish currency (, with later changes).
Three types of currency unions exist:The theory of the optimal currency area addresses the question of how to determine what geographical regions should share a currency in order to maximize economic efficiency.
From January 1, 1990, Polish złoty became a fully convertible currency, with market-set, rather than state-determined, rates against foreign currencies.
The Polish 200 Złotych note is a denomination of Polish currency. It is also the only Polish bill to feature a hologram (only in first, non-modernized version). The bill's dimensions are 144 x 72 mm. The note is used as the sole currency in Poland and used daily by about 38,6 million people.
Simultaneously, Soviet authorities attempted to remove the traces of Polish history of the area by eliminating much of what had any connection to the Polish state or even Polish culture in general.[16] On 21 December 1939, the Polish currency was withdrawn from circulation without any exchange to the newly introduced rouble, which meant that the entire population of the area lost all of their life savings overnight.[127]
The marka (, Polish mark, abbreviated "mp", Polish-language plural declensions: "marki, marek") was the currency of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Republic of Poland between 1917 and 1924. It was subdivided into 100 "fenigs" (a Polish spelling of German "pfennig"), much like its German original after which it was modelled (see "German mark).
The Polish 50 Złotych note is a denomination of Polish currency. The note is used as the sole currency in Poland and used daily by about 38,6 million of people.
A government may officially set the rate of exchange of its currency with that of other currencies, typically the US dollar. When it does, the peg often overvalues the local currency relative to what its market value would be if it were a floating currency. Those in possession of the "harder" currency, for example expatriate workers, may be able to use the black market to buy the local currency at better exchange rates than they can get officially.
The Free City of Kraków created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna was granted the right to introduce its own currency but it chose to enter the monetary union with the Kingdom of Poland and did not implement the right to introduce its own currency until 1835. Between 1815 and 1835 the złoty of the Congress Kingdom of Poland was the official currency of the Free City of Kraków. During the November Uprising also the złoty introduced by the revolutionary government in the Kingdom of Poland was in circulation in the Free City. Its obverse featured the crowned coat of arms consisting of the Polish White Eagle and Lithuanian Vytis, replacing earlier used Russian two-headed eagle with an escutcheon with the Polish White Eagle on its chest. Following the defeat of the Polish army in the November Uprising (1831), the Russian government decided to remove an effigy of the Polish eagle from the currency of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, replacing it with the Russian two-headed eagle. This move of the Russians made the government of the Free City of Kraków to protest, under the pressure exercised by its own citizens who refused to accept the new coins, by introducing its own currency featuring the Polish White Eagle (which constituted a part of the arms of the Free City). The new currency was to circulate in Kraków alongside the Polish złoty. In 1835 three coins of the new currency, the Kraków złoty, were released into circulation in following denominations:Further two coins were supposed to be released later, namely 3 grosze (copper) and 2 złote (silver), but the annexation of the Free City of Cracow by Austria in 1846 thwarted such plans. The Free City introduced only its own coins and continued to use the banknotes of the Congress Kingdom of Poland. The Kraków złoty was equivalent to the Polish in the Russian-controlled Congress Kingdom, which had a fixed exchange rate to the Russian currencies of 1 kopeck = 2 grosze, or 0.15 ruble = 1 złoty. Following the annexation of Kraków by Austria in 1846 the Kraków złoty remained in circulation until the end of 1847 when it was replaced by Austro-Hungarian gulden. The exchange rate was 1 gulden=4 złote 12 groszy. Nowadays, due to a small number of coins minted and a relatively short circulation period (only twelve years), the Cracow złoty is an extremely rare collectible much coveted by collectors. The buying power of the Kraków złoty can be illustrated by the following example taken from an 1845 carpenter's bill:
Other definitions of the term "currency" are discussed in their respective synonymous articles banknote, coin, and money. The latter definition, pertaining to the currency systems of nations, is the topic of this article. Currencies can be classified into two monetary systems: fiat money and commodity money, depending on what guarantees the value (the economy at large vs. the government's physical metal reserves). Some currencies are legal tender in certain political jurisdictions. Others are simply traded for their economic value. Digital currency has arisen with the popularity of computers and the Internet.
Similarly, the no-difference principle applies to foreign exchange: There are no currency conversions, so that what is claimed in one currency is owed in that currency.
On top of this was the massive destruction left after both World War I and the Polish–Soviet War. There was also a great economic disparity between the eastern (commonly called "Poland B") and western (called "Poland A") parts of the country, with the western half, especially areas that had belonged to the German Empire being much more developed and prosperous. Frequent border closures and a customs war with Germany also had negative economic impacts on Poland. In 1924 Prime Minister and Economic Minister Władysław Grabski introduced the złoty as a single common currency for Poland (it replaced the Polish marka), which remained a stable currency. The currency helped Poland to control the massive hyperinflation. It was the only country in Europe able to do this without foreign loans or aid. The average annual growth rate (GDP per capita) was 5.24% in 1920–29 and 0.34% in 1929–38.
The currency, if adopted, would be the sole legal tender in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. Oman and the UAE have announced that they will not adopt the new currency until further notice. It would be seen as a further step in the expanding remit of what was originally intended as an organization for security cooperation between the GCC states, which then grew into an economic agreement and a customs union in 2001 and 2003. The terms of what would be called the "GCC Monetary Agreement" followed shortly after that, with the convergence criteria of the single currency being decided in 2005. Oman became the first state to pull out of the union, in 2006, and the UAE, in 2009, the second and so far last state to withdraw from this tentative agreement to create a single Gulf currency.
In order to obtain much needed foreign currency from Polish society, authorities permitted in 1972 the creation of a network of shops under a state-owned bank named Pekao. There, the foreign hard currency could be exchanged for both foreign and domestic goods, many of which were unavailable to Poles at that time. Since ownership of hard currency as cash was forbidden and all dollars and Deutschmarks had to be deposited to dollar bank accounts, authorities introduced Bon PeKaO cheques, which were tied to the U.S. Dollar in a 1:1 ratio and could be used as currency in Pekao shops. Later on the Pekao bank created a separate company, Przedsiębiorstwo Eksportu Wewnętrznego - the Pewex. While the letter "x" is not present in the Polish alphabet, it was used nevertheless, so that the name would sound somehow exotic and Western-like in the ears of the mostly pro-American society.
It is well recognized that traditional "textbook" theory does not price cross currency (basis) swaps correctly, because it assumes the funding cost in each currency to be equal to its floating rate, thus always giving a zero cross currency spread. This is clearly contrary to what is observed in the market. In reality, market participants have different levels of access to funds in different currencies and therefore their funding costs are not always equal to LIBOR.
Poland has gone through two episodes of hyperinflation since the country regained independence following the World War I, the first in 1923, the second in 1989-1990. Both events resulted in the introduction of new currencies. In 1924, the "złoty" replaced the original currency of post-war Poland, the mark. This currency was subsequently replaced by another of the same name in 1950, which was assigned the ISO code of PLZ. As a result of the second hyperinflation crisis, the current "new złoty" was introduced in 1990 (ISO code: PLN). See the article on Polish złoty for more information about the currency's history.
Currency: Złoty (since 1924)Symbol: zł"See also Polish coins and banknotes and Polish złoty."
Between 1950 and 1990, a unit known as the złoty dewizowy (which may be roughly translated as the "foreign exchange złoty") was used as an artificial currency for calculation purposes only. It existed because at the time the złoty was not convertible (like most Warsaw Bloc currencies) and its official rate of exchange was set by the government. Additionally several exchange rates existed depending on the purpose of the transaction and who was exchanging; for example, złoty could be exchanged for, say, US dollars at one of several official exchange rates depending on what was to be bought with the hard currency and the entity that was buying. In reverse, it worked when an individual or a business had western currency earnings and wanted (or needed) to convert them into złoty. The exchange rate did not depend on the amount being converted. Visitors from countries outside of the Soviet Bloc were offered a particularly poor exchange rate. Concurrently, the private black-market exchange rate contrasted sharply with the official government exchange rate until the end of communist rule in 1989, when official rates were tied to market rates.