Hungarian forint

Encyclopedia : H : HU : HUN : Hungarian forint

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The forint (currency code HUF) is the official currency of Hungary. It is divided into 100 fillér, although fillér coins have not been in circulation since 1999.

History

The forint's name comes from the city of Florence, where golden money was minted from 1252 under the name 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 1857 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 1 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 = 4×10^{29 pengő. In fact, this was an imaginary exchange rate, since the whole amount of Pengő in circulation had a value of less then one forint at this rate.}

Historically the forint was made up of 100 fillér, but fillér have been rendered useless by inflation and have not been in circulation since 1999. The Hungarian abbreviation for forint is Ft, which is written after the number with a space between. The name fillér, the subdivision of almost all Hungarian currencies, comes from the German word Heller. The abbreviation for the fillér is f, written also after the number with a space in between. However, since the demise of the fillér, this abbreviation is now seldom used.

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 1970's and 1980's. 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 2010-2012, 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 one among the ten new EU members to adopt the euro currency.

Coins

Recent series

In 1992, a new series of forint coins was introduced with denominations ranging from 1 Ft to 200 Ft [link]. From 1996, a bicolor 100 Ft coin was minted to replace the 1992 version, since the latter one was considered to be too big, too ugly, and could be easily mistaken with the 20 Ft coin. The 200 Ft coin was made of 500 ‰ 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 1996. In 1998, both the 1992 type 100 Ft and 200 Ft coins were withdrawn from circulation.

1992 Series
Image		Value	Diameter	Thickness	Weight	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse	First Minted Year
		1 Ft	16.3 mm	1.1 mm	2.05 g	75% copper 21% zinc 4% nickel	Smooth	State title, minting date and the Hungarian coat of arms	Value and mint sign	1992
[link]	[link]	2 Ft	19.2 mm	1.5 mm	3.1 g	Cupronickel 75% copper 25% nickel	Serrated	State title, minting date and a Hungarian Colchicum (Colchicum Hungaricum)	Value and mint sign	1992
[link]	[link]	5 Ft	21.2 mm	1.3 mm	4.2 g	75% copper 21% zinc 4% nickel	Smooth	State title, minting date and a Great Egret (Egretta alba)	Value and mint sign	1992
[link]	[link]	10 Ft	24.8 mm	1.3 mm	6.1 g	Cupronickel 75% copper 25% nickel	Alternately smooth and serrated	State title, minting date and the Hungarian coat of arms	Value and mint sign	1992
[link]	[link]	20 Ft	26.3 mm	1.9 mm	6.9 g	75% copper 21% zinc 4% nickel	Serrated	State title, minting date and a Stool Iris (Iris aphylla)	Value and mint sign	1992
[link]	[link]	50 Ft	27.4 mm	1.7 mm	7.7 g	Cupronickel 75% copper 25% nickel	Smooth	State title, minting date and a sitting Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug)	Value and mint sign	1992
		100 Ft	29.2 mm	1.9 mm	9.4 g	75% copper 21% zinc 4% nickel	Ornated	State title, minting date and the Hungarian coat of arms	Value and mint sign	1992
[link]	[link]	100 Ft	23.8 mm	2.2 mm	8 g	Steel Ring: Ni plated Center: 75% Cu 25% Zn plated	Serrated	State title, minting date and the Hungarian coat of arms	Value and mint sign	1996
		200 Ft	32 mm	1.7 mm	12 g	50% silver	Serrated	State title, value, minting date, mint sign, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the Hungarian coat of arms	The building of the Hungarian National Bank and the signature of its guvernor and four vice-guvernors	1992
		200 Ft	32 mm	1.7 mm	12 g	50% silver	Serrated	State title, value, minting date, mint sign, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the Hungarian coat of arms	Portrait of Ferenc Deák	1994
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world coins.

Banknotes

Recent series

Between 1997 and 2001, a new series of banknotes were issued with improved security features[link]. 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 holographic security strip. The notes share the common size of 154 x 70 mm. The banknotes are printed by the [Hungarian Banknote Printing Corp.] in Budapest on the paper manufactured by the [Diósgyőr Papermill] in Miskolc.

• 200 forint (first issued in 1998)

color: greenish white; obverse: portrait of king Charles Robert; reverse: view of the Castle of Diósgyőr

500 forint (first issued in 1998)

color: reddish blueish pink; obverse: portrait of prince sovereign Ferenc II Rákóczi; reverse: view of the Castle of Sárospatak

1 000 forint (first issued in 1998)

color: blueish white; obverse: portrait of King Matthias Corvinus; reverse: the Hercules Fountain from the Castle of Visegrád

2 000 forint (first issued in 1998)

color: brownish; obverse: portrait of prince sovereign Gábor Bethlen; reverse: Géza Dósa's painting "Gábor Bethlen among his scientists"

5 000 forint (first issued in 1999)

color: greenish blue; obverse: portrait of the industrialist Count István Széchenyi; reverse: view of the Széchenyi Mansion in Nagycenk

10 000 forint (first issued in 1997)

color: blueish white; obverse: portrait of King Stephen I; reverse: view of Esztergom

20 000 forint (first issued in 2001)

color: reddish; obverse: the portrait of politician Ferenc Deák; reverse: view of the old House of Commons

Previous Series

In 1946, the first series of forint banknotes were put into circulation with the denominations of 10 Ft and 100 Ft. As a consequence of their poor quality (offset printing), many counterfeit appeared in a short time.

10 Forint (1946), Obverse	10 Ft Issued: 1 August 1946 Withdrawn: 31 March 1948 Size: 155 · 71 mm Obverse: portrait of a worker with hammer Reverse: coat of arms	10 Forint (1946), Reverse
10 Forint (1946), Obverse	100 Ft Issued: 7 August 1946 Withdrawn: 1 May 1951 Size: 158 · 72 mm Obverse: portrait of a women holding a sickle and ears of wheat Reverse: hands holding a hammer and ears of wheat	100 Forint (1946), Reverse

From 1947, a second series of banknotes were designed and put into circulation. These banknotes were printed until 1996 with different coat of arms.

10 Forint (1975), Obverse	10 Ft Issued: 1 August 1948 Withdrawn: 30 September 1992 Size: 166 · 72 mm Obverse: portrait of Sándor Petőfi Reverse: János Jankó's painting: "Riverside scene"	10 Forint (1975), Reverse
20 Forint (1975), Obverse	20 Ft Issued: 1 August 1948 Withdrawn: 30 September 1992 Size: 166 · 72 mm Obverse: portrait of György Dózsa Reverse: male nude (posing: István Hegedűs pentathlonist) with hammer and ear of wheat	20 Forint (1975), Reverse
50 Forint (1986), Obverse	50 Ft Issued: 13 June 1953 Withdrawn: 30 June 1996 Size: 166 · 72 mm Obverse: portrait of Ferenc II Rákóczi Reverse: unknown painter: "Kuruc-labanc battle scene"	50 Forint (1986), Reverse
100 Forint (1992), Obverse	100 Ft Issued: 14 August 1948 Withdrawn: 31 December 1998 Size: 166 · 72 mm Obverse: portrait of Lajos Kossuth Reverse: Károly Lotz's painting: "Flight from the thunderstorm"	100 Forint (1992), Reverse
500 Forint (1990), Obverse	500 Ft Issued: 21 August 1970 Withdrawn: 31 Augusztus 1999 Size: 174 · 80 mm Obverse: portrait of Endre Ady Reverse: view of Budapest	500 Forint (1990), Reverse
1000 Forint (1992), Obverse	1000 Ft Issued: 27 June 1983 Withdrawn: 31 Augusztus 1999 Size: 174 · 80 mm Obverse: portrait of Béla Bartók Reverse: Ferenc Medgyessy's sculpture: "Mother with her child"	1000 Forint (1992), Reverse
5000 Forint (1992), Obverse	5000 Ft Issued: 25 March 1991 Withdrawn: 26 July 1999 Size: 174 · 80 mm Obverse: portrait of Count István Széchenyi Reverse: the building of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences	5000 Forint (1992), Reverse

Forgery of Forint is not significant, but sometimes colour photo-copiers 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 Forints to international currencies. Fake dollars and euro banknotes are commonly disseminated by illegal street money exchangers. Legal currency exchange is only available in licenced booths, which always operate under the consortium of some commercial bank and always provide a paper trail of the transaction. Photo ID papers may be required for legal exchange of Forints to/from foreign currencies. An alternative is to use internationally known credit cards for payments in Hungary.

History of coins and notes

In the communist period (from 1946) older banknotes with the previous coat of arms were used. There were in circulation till 1999. The denominations of the old coins were 10, 20, 50 and fillér, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 forint. These coins were larger than the current ones of the same denomination. The existing notes were 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 5000 forints, although 10 and 20 forint notes have become rare in the later years. The 1000 forint note was introduced in 1983, the 5000 forint note in 1991.

The current generation of coins and notes were introduced in 1998 and 1999 (the 10000 forint notes were issued in 1997.) These include the new coat of arms with the crown. The smallest denomination was 1 forint, so the old 50 fillér coins were used for a little more time. The banknotes are all the same size, and have modern security features unlike the old ones. Since then, some of the notes have been slightly changed for greater security; 20000 forint notes were introduced in 2001; and a new smaller but thicker bi-colored 100 forint coin has replaced the older 100 forint coin as that was often confused with the 20 forint coin.

Historical exchange rates

Exchange rates (1 XXX = ? HUF)

Date	EUR	GBP	USD
1 January, 2006	252.65	367.55	213.22
1 January, 2005	244.66	346.95	180.755
1 January, 2004	261.83	371.59	206.83
1 January, 2003	235.74	361.88	225.09
1 January, 2002	244.75	395.45	271.88
1 January, 2001	264.58	417.70	279.62
1 January, 2000	254.47	407.22	248.82
1 January, 1998
335.98	205.18
1 January, 1995
173.30	110.75
1 January, 1993
126.99	84.41
1 January, 1990
100.23	62.54

External links

• [Official Daily Exchange Rates Archive], Hungarian National Bank
• [Numismatics hungary]
• [Hungarian banknote catalog] (including pictures of old forint banknotes)
• [Hungarian banknotes] (high resolution pictures, also including old forint banknotes)

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Pre-euro and other EU currencies

Eurozone Austrian schilling > Belgian franc | Dutch gulden | Finnish mark | French franc | German mark | Greek drachma | Irish pound | Italian lira | Luxembourgish franc | Monegasque franc | Portuguese escudo | San Marinese lira | Spanish peseta | Vatican lira ERM II Cypriot pound > Danish krone | Estonian kroon | Latvian lats | Lithuanian litas | Maltese lira | Slovak koruna | Slovenian tolar Other EU British pound | Czech koruna | Gibraltar pound | Hungarian forint | Polish złoty | Swedish krona This box: [ view] • [ talk] • [ edit]

Currencies of Europe
Eurozone	Euro
Northern	Danish krone > Faroese króna | Icelandic króna | Norwegian krone | Swedish krona
Baltic	Estonian kroon > Latvian lats | Lithuanian litas
Western	British pound | Guernsey pound | Jersey pound | Manx pound
Central	Czech koruna > Hungarian forint | Polish złoty | Slovak koruna | Slovenian tolar | Swiss franc
Eastern	Belarusian ruble > Kazakhstani tenge | Russian ruble | Ukrainian hryvnia
Southeastern	Albanian lek > Bulgarian lev | Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark | Croatian kuna | Macedonian denar | Moldovan leu | Romanian leu | Serbian dinar
Mediterranean	Cypriot pound > Gibraltar pound | Maltese lira | Turkish new lira
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Unrecognized Countries	Transnistrian ruble
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