The Moldovan Leu (MDL) celebrates its 30th anniversary.
Review of InfoMarket Agency
Five years ago, InfoMarket agency made a review dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Moldova's national currency. On the day of its 30th anniversary, we decided to remind you about this review, published on November 29, 2018, republishing it as a gift almost in its original form.
A Quarter Century of Moldovan Leu
November 29, 2018 is the 25th anniversary of Moldovan leu. It’s the date national currency of modern Moldova was issued at the first time. The Moldovan Coupon was issued on 10 June 1992, during the collapse of USSR and economic instability.
Then, it was exchanged for 1000 Coupons to 1 leu since the Moldovan leu was officially adopted. Initially, coins with denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 bans, 1 leu, 5 lei were adopted as the national currency.
Also, banknotes of 1, 5, 10 and 20 lei were adopted.
Please note: the 20 lei banknote was adopted and it is used to the present time. But, the so-called "first lei" did not survive to see the first anniversary of the national currency. Six months later, the National Bank began to replace the 1, 5 and 10 lei banknotes with new ones:
The National Bank was well aware that the coins were of very low quality, but assumed that inflation "will eat" their value, so the counterfeiters will not mint coins. But it was wrong assumption. At the time of the adoption of the national currency its rate to the US dollar was 3.85 lei and 4.27 lei a year later. The average salary was 20-30 dollars at that time, minting fake 1-leu and 5-lei coins was very profitable business. So, that coins of 1 and 5 lei were also withdrawn from circulation during the first year.
50-lei banknote was adopted along with other new banknotes.
100 and 200 lei banknotes appeared only in September 1994. Moreover, the 100-lei banknote was the same size as the banknotes of a smaller denomination and was often confused in color with 1 leu; then the 200-lei banknote was made slightly larger.
The NBM issued the first silver commemorative coin on November 13, 1996, in honor of the 5th anniversary of Moldova’s independence.
February 2, 1998, in view of the fact that counterfeiters continued to mint 50-bani coins, as it is known, from the old Soviet beds, 10 such coins at the rate of 4.6 turned into one US dollar, then the NBM issued new golden-colored coin of 50-bani.
The old aluminum coin of 50-bani stops its circulation on December 31, 1998, although after the first for the Moldovan currency regional financial and economic crisis, by the end of 1998, the rate was already 9.7 lei for $1. The issue with the "rebranding" of coins in 25, 10 and 5 were not necessary anymore.
The NBM issued a new banknote with a value of 500-lei on December 6, 1999 due to the devaluation of the national currency, which followed of the aforementioned crisis.
Since 2000, almost four years after the release of the first anniversary coin, the National Bank resumed their coinage. Since then, it has been done annually, and by now 141 anniversary silver and gold coins of 50, 100, 200 and even 1000 lei were minted.
By the way, the first gold jubilee coin dedicated to the 500th anniversary of Stefan cel Mare, it was issued on February 2, 2004, in the amount of only 300 items.
Also, the NBM releases the first anniversary banknote with a value of 200 lei in honor of the 20th anniversary of the national currency. But it is not in demand. This anniversary banknote can be ordered at the NBM for just 220 lei at any commercial bank. It is distinguished by the value in the right lower corner in red color, and also the inscription "20 DE ANI", which can be found in the center down on the front side.
And, to close the theme with commemorative coins, the NBM issued a gold coin with a nominal value of 1000-lei on March 27, 2018 (only 300 items), dedicated to the 100th anniversary reunion of Basarabia with Romania. This gold coin still can be bought, the price at the National Bank is 25339 lei.
(Apparently, by the time this article was released, the NBM will introduce a new coin on the date the first leu was issued, that is, 25 years since the national currency.)
The new 1000-lei banknote was issued on December 20, 2003, by the time the leu’s rate to the dollar exceeded 14 lei per $1.
It is the banknote with the largest value ever issued since 1992, it took 10 years to reach this point.
Since October 2015, the NBM has been issuing banknotes of higher quality, starting with a 200-lei banknote. By the way, it is almost the same anniversary banknote issued in 2003. The only difference is the "20 DE ANI" inscription.
And, finally, in order to reduce the expenses of the National Bank on the replacement of smaller denomination banknotes, the 25th anniversary of the currency, on February 28, 2018, metal lei with value of 1, 2, 5, 10 lei were adopted. Their design was selected on a competitive basis.
Beautiful memorable gift set of 8 coins (4 obverse and 4 reverse) can be purchased by contacting any of the commercial banks in the country, starting from October 2018.
In October 2018, the NBM President Sergiu Cioclea announced that the Moldovan lei in the near future could be made of polymeric materials because paper banknotes are expensive to manufacture and they wear out quickly. Then, he said that a tender will be announced and, perhaps, the money of the "new generation" will appear in 2019.
Later, Sergiu Cioclea said that this is a matter of the future, on the eve of his resignation (at his own request) at the end of November 2018.
So, perhaps, the Moldovan leu will meet its 30th anniversary in 2023 in a new guise. The history goes on. // 29.11.2018 – InfoMarket.
(Here were used information and illustrations of InfoMarket agency, official website of the National Bank of Moldova bnm.md and the Free Encyclopedia Wikipedia wikipedia.org).
P.S. 2023: The Moldovan leu celebrates its 30th anniversary in its original form. And in the past five years, no tender for the design and execution of the "new generation" money has been announced. There was no time for that: the pandemic, the war in the neighboring country, the energy crisis, high inflation.... Not to mention the fact that re-design, re-production and replacement of the currency of one model with another carry enormous costs. And: not only for the issuer, but also for other market participants: from commercial banks, which will have to reprogram ATMs, owners of machines with bill acceptors, to ordinary people; some will have to explain that this is a new currency, and others will have to get used to the new currency. Again.
And yet, lastly, one story about how the Moldovan leu is perceived by foreigners.
In late 2021, Tarmo Sild, a businessman from Estonia, co-owner of the company Iute Credit, which later acquired the Moldovan Energbank, gave an interview to InfoMarket agency. While answering the question: "What did you pay attention to in Moldova, in the financial market, what, in your opinion, could be improved?", he particularly answered: "My advice will not solve all the problems in Moldova, but I believe that people's attitude towards money starts from very simple and small things. A person sees with his/her eyes, feels with his/her fingers and everything we feel gives us simple signals. My advice is simple: print new money, normal size, with beautiful symbols that unite everyone except Stefan cel Mare, make your money of higher quality and more serious. It affects people's subconscious, children and adults. Yes, we are all moving towards full digitalization of money flows, but cash in Moldova, I think, will remain for another 10 and 20 years. Just issue new banknotes that will show the modern Moldova, reflect your identity, your history and dreams - the sources of your pride. And this will not only have a cosmetic effect, it will have a serious impact on people's subconsciousness. Beautiful banknotes are treated accordingly."
A few months later, at one of the meetings with the Economic Press Club, the current NBM Governor Octavian Armasu, when asked by InfoMarket agency whether a new design and, possibly, a complete physical transformation of the national currency is planned in Moldova, said that this information is a state secret, a matter of national security. Therefore, when it will happen we will know post factum. //29.11.2023 - InfoMarket.
