Kazakh tenge (KZT)

Despite the fact that Kazakhstan was one of the last in the CIS to adopt its own currency, the republic nevertheless did not have temporary money, as most post-Soviet countries did.

Same money, but in Kazakh.

A group of designers to develop the appearance of the future national currency was assembled already in 1991, and it coped with its task in exactly one year. There was an acute question of choosing a name: "aksha" and "altyn" were suggested, as well as the more convenient "som", which was the popular name for the Soviet ruble. However, as a result of heated debates, a new version emerged, "aksha.KZT"which satisfied most of the opponents. Fortunately, this Turkic word meant just "money" (it is believed that the term of nomads and later served as the progenitor for the modern name of the measure of value in Russian). In any case, the currency of Kazakhstan was officially introduced in 1993.

What changes happened to the tenge during the whole period of its activity? A new series of banknotes was launched in 2006. Now Kazakh tenge became one of the most difficult to counterfeit in the world (18 degrees of protection), as well as slightly changed its appearance. The designers of the second batch of banknotes decided to abandon the portrait images, offering instead a design composed of architectural monuments of the country and its natural landscape. Denominations were made in different colors, for the convenience of their identification, as well as slightly different sizes (each next bigger than the previous one in width and length).

Currency career of the Kazakh tenge

Kazakh tenge exchange rate From the very beginning, it predictably began to fall, due to the lack of gold and foreign exchange reserves in the Central Asian republic, a negative balance of payments and the typical monstrous for the CIS countries of that time Inflation. Relative stabilization came since 1999, when the National Bank of the country let the currency float freely. In February 2009, Kazakhstan was already waiting for a sharp devaluation tenge, carried out by the authorities in view of the collapse of world commodity prices. After the rise of these prices later, the tenge practically regained the lost positions. It is predicted that Kazakh tenge exchange rate will be strengthened in the near future, due to the continued growth of energy prices.

Kazakh tenge denominations

Currently KZT is presented in the form of 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 tenge banknotes as well as coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 tenge. The international designation of the currency of Kazakhstan is KZT.

Kazakh tenge