Hungarian forint
| Hungarian forint Magyar forint (Hungarian) |
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| ISO 4217 Code | HUF | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| User(s) |  Hungary |
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| Inflation | 5.1% | ||
| Subunit | |||
| 1/100 | fillér (defunct) |
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| Symbol | Ft | ||
| Plural | forint | ||
| Coins | 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 forint | ||
| Banknotes | 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000, 20 000 forint | ||
| Printer | Hungarian National Bank / Magyar Nemzeti Bank | ||
| Website | www.mnb.hu | ||
| Mint | Hungarian Mint Ltd. | ||
| Website | www.penzvero.hu | ||
The forint (sign: Ft; code: HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It is divided into 100 fillér, although fillér coins have not been in circulation since 1999. In 2004 Hungary joined the European Union, which uses the euro. Thus the forint is slated to disappear circa 2012-2014, depending on the economic situation. At the end of October 2008 the exchange rates were approximately 220 Ft for one United States dollar, and 280 Ft for one Euro.
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History
The forint's name comes from the city of Florence, where golden coins were minted from 1252 called fiorino d'oro. In Hungary, florentinus (later forint), also a gold-based currency, was used from 1325 under Charles Robert and several other countries followed its example.
Between 1868 and 1892, the forint was the name used in Hungarian for the currency of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, known in German as the Austro-Hungarian gulden or Austrian florin. It was subdivided into 100 krajczár (krajcár in modern Hungarian).
The forint was reintroduced on 18 August 1946, after the 1945-1946 hyperinflation of the pengő. The process was managed by the Hungarian Communist Party, which held the relevant ministry seats, and the forint's success was exploited for political gains, contributing to the 1948-49 communist take-over of state powers. The forint replaced the pengő at the rate of 1 forint = 4×1029 pengő. In fact, this was an imaginary exchange rate, since the whole amount of pengő in circulation had a value of less than one forint at this rate. Of more significance was the exchange rate to the adópengő of 1 forint = 200 million adópengő.
Historically the forint was subdivided into 100 fillér, although fillér have been rendered useless by inflation and have not been in circulation since 1996. The Hungarian abbreviation for forint is Ft, which is written after the number with a space between. The name fillér, the subdivision of all Hungarian currencies since 1925, comes from the German word Heller. The abbreviation for the fillér is f, written also after the number with a space in between.
After its 1946 introduction, the forint remained stable for several years, but started to lose its purchasing power as the state-socialist economic system lost its competitiveness during the 1970s and 1980s. After the democratic change of 1989-90, the forint saw yearly inflation figures of app. 35% for three years, but significant market economy reforms helped stabilize it. Since year 2000 the relatively high value of forint (especially compared to the falling US dollar and to some extent to the euro) handicaps the strongly export-oriented Hungarian industry against foreign competitors with lower valued currencies.
As part of Hungary's integration into the European Union and its euro currency, the forint is slated to disappear circa 2012-2014, depending on the economic situation. As of autumn 2005, there is a strong disagreement between the Hungarian National Bank and the government whether EU-mandated low inflation figures and reduced foreign debt aims can be fulfilled by 2010. The situation threatens to make Hungary the last to adopt the euro currency of the ten countries that joined the EU in 2004. The forint was pegged to the euro until 26 February 2008.
Coins
In 1947, coins (dated 1946) were introduced in denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 fillér, 1, 2 and 5 forint. The silver 5 forint was only issued that year. In 1967, a 5 forint coin was reintroduced, followed by a 10 forint in 1971 and 20 forint in 1982
In 1992, a new series of coins was introduced with denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 forint[1]. Production of the 2 and 5 fillér ceased in 1975, with all fillér coins withdrawn from circulation by 1996. From 1996, a bimetallic 100 forint coin was minted to replace the 1992 version, since the latter was considered to be too big and ugly, and could be easily mistaken with the 20 forint coin.
A 200 forint coin was made of .500 fine silver. From 1994, mass minting of the 200 Ft coin was stopped, since the price of the metal was getting higher than the face value of the coin. However, small issues for collector purposes were minted until 1998, when both the 1992 type 100 forint and the 200 forint coins were withdrawn from circulation.
The 1 and 2 forint coins remained in circulation until February 29, 2008. After this date cash transactions were rounded to the closest 5 forints.
In June 2008, the National Bank of Hungary announced plans for a new 200 forint coin. In September, they decided it will have a diameter of 28.3 mm, it will be bimetal, and will be introduced in the first half of 2009.
Banknotes
In 1946, 10 and 100 forint notes were introduced by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Hungarian National Bank). These were followed by 20 forint notes the next year, whilst 50 forint notes were added in 1951. 500 forint notes were introduced in 1969, followed by 1000 forint in 1983, 5000 forint in 1990, 2000 and 10,000 forint in 1998, and 20,000 forint in 1999.
The recent series of forint banknotes with improved security features[2] was introduced from 1997 onwards. Each banknote depicts a famous Hungarian leader or politician on the obverse and a place related to him on the reverse. All of the banknotes are watermarked, contain an embedded vertical security strip of thin metal and suitable for the visually impaired people. As of April 2006 the 1000 forint note has added a copper holographic security strip. The 2000 forint and higher denominations are also protected by an interwoven silver-coloured holographic security strip, whilst the updated 1000 forint note contains a red copper coloured holographic strip. The notes share the common size of 154 × 70 mm. The banknotes are printed by the Hungarian Banknote Printing Corp. in Budapest on the paper manufactured by the Diósgyőr Papermill in Miskolc.
Forgery of forint is not significant but sometimes colour photocopiers are abused by teenagers to produce low quality fake money for shopping and gambling purposes. For foreign visitors to Hungary, the main danger lies in exchanging their forint to international currencies. Fake dollars and euro banknotes are commonly disseminated by illegal street money exchangers. For their safety, tourists are advised not to attempt to exchange currency with touts. Legal currency exchange is only available in licensed booths, which always operate under the consortium of some commercial bank and always provide a receipt of the transaction. Clients may be requested to produce a valid photographic ID when exchanging currency. It must be noted that foreign coins are seldom exchanged, and when they are, the exchange is normally done at a rate lower than the spot rate. To avoid hassle with currency exchange, an alternative is to use internationally known and accepted credit cards for payments in Hungary.
In 2006 a special-issue 500-forint note was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 revolution. The picture on the front of the bill is the same as the normal 500-forint note, but with the date October 23, 1956 added, whereas the back has a picture of the Parliament building as well as the revolutionary flag.
Demonetization and withdrawal
The Hungarian National Bank is responsible for maintaining the quality of the notes in circulation, and is therefore licensed to issue new notes and withdraw old ones. The current series of Hungarian Forint banknotes have been circulating for about a decade. The old series, however, lost legal tender value in 1999, and cannot be used in circulation any more. The table below contains the withdrawal dates of the banknotes issued by the Hungarian National Bank.
| Denomination | Date demonetized | Final date of exchange |
|---|---|---|
| 10 forint | unknown | no longer exchanged |
| 20 forint | unknown | no longer exchanged |
| 50 forint | unknown | no longer exchanged |
| 100 forint | unknown | no longer exchanged |
| 500 forint | August 31, 1999 | December 31, 2009 |
| 1000 forint | August 31, 1999 | December 31, 2009 |
| 5000 forint | August 26, 1999 | December 31, 2009 |
The Hungarian National Bank only exchanges currency issued in forint denominations. Pengő currency can no longer be exchanged. Any forint notes can be exchanged at any of the three offices of the Hungarian National Bank.
On June 6, 2007 The Hungarian National Bank announced the withdrawal of the 1000 forint notes issued until 2004. This affected the 1000 forint notes without the red metallic strip on the obverse side, i.e. also the Millennium issue. These notes remained in circulation until August 31, 2007. After this period, the note may be refused for payment. However, commercial banks may exchange these notes thereafter. The Hungarian National Bank will continue to exchange these notes for twenty years, until August 31, 2027.
Historical exchange rates
| Date | EUR | GBP | USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-10-22 | 278.64 | 353.36 | 216.85 |
| 2007-01-01 | 251.63 | 374.80 | 191.07 |
| 2006-01-01 | 252.65 | 367.55 | 213.22 |
| 2005-01-01 | 244.66 | 346.95 | 180.755 |
| 2004-01-01 | 261.83 | 371.59 | 206.83 |
| 2003-01-01 | 235.74 | 361.88 | 225.09 |
| 2002-01-01 | 244.75 | 395.45 | 271.88 |
| 2001-01-01 | 264.58 | 417.70 | 279.62 |
| 2000-01-01 | 254.47 | 407.22 | 248.82 |
| 1998-01-01 | - | 335.98 | 205.18 |
| 1995-01-01 | - | 173.30 | 110.75 |
| 1993-01-01 | - | 126.99 | 84.41 |
| 1990-01-01 | - | 100.23 | 62.54 |
Proverbs and expressions in other languages
In Serbian, there is an expression "I haven't got any filler" ("Немам ни филера" - transliteration: "Nemam ni filera"), especially used in Vojvodina, which was part of Hungary for centuries. The equivalent English translation is "I haven't got a penny". Forints and filler have not been in circulation since the 1920s.
See also
- Hungarian euro coins
- Economy of Hungary
References
- Krause, Chester L. and Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1801-1991 (18th ed. ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501.
- Pick, Albert (1994). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer (editors) (7th ed. ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9.
External links
- Official Daily Exchange Rates Archive, Hungarian National Bank
- (Hungarian) (English) bankjegy.szabadsagharcos.org (Hungarian banknote catalog)
- (Hungarian) (English) www.numismatics.hu (Roman and Hungarian related numismatic site)
- (Hungarian) papirpenz.hu (pictures of Hungarian banknotes)
- (Hungarian) (English) (German) (French) www.eremgyujtok.hu (homepage of the Hungarian Coin Collectors' Society)
- Hungarian banknotes (high resolution pictures, also including old forint banknotes)
Further reading
- Gyula Rádóczy, Géza Tasnádi (1992). Magyar papírpénzek 1848-1992 (Hungarian paper money 1848-1992). Danubius Kódex Kiadói Kft. ISBN 963-7434-11-9.
- Károly Leányfalusi, Ádám Nagy (1998). Magyarország fém- és papírpénzei 1926-1998 (Coins and paper money of Hungary 1926-1998). Magyar Éremgyűjtők Egyesülete, Budapest. ISBN 963-03-6023-3.
- Károly Léányfalusi, Ádám Nagy (2006). Magyarország fém- és papírpénzei 1946-2006 (Coins and paper money of Hungary 1964-2006). Magyar Éremgyűjtők Egyesülete, Budapest. ISBN 978-963-7122-16-3.
- Mihály Kupa id. dr. (1993). Corpus notarum pecuniariarum Hungariae I-II. (Magyar Egyetemes Pénzjegytár) (General Hungarian Banknote Catalog). Informatika Történeti Múzeum Alapítvány, Budapest. ISBN 963-04-3658-2.
| Preceded by: Hungarian pengő Reason: inflation Ratio: 1 forint = 4×1029 pengő |
Currency of Hungary 1 August 1946 – Concurrent with: adópengő until 30 September 1946 |
Succeeded by: Current |
| Preceded by: Hungarian adópengő Reason: inflation Ratio: 1 forint = 2×108 adópengő |
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