The or ( ; uk,
гривня
The or ( ; uk, гривня , : ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 . It is named after a measure of weight used in medieval Kievan Rus'.
Name Ety ...
, : ''hrn'';
sign
A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
: ₴;
code
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
: UAH) has been the national
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general def ...
of
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 . It is named after
a measure of weight used in medieval
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
.
Name
Etymology
The
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general def ...
of
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
in the eleventh century was called ''grivna''. The word is thought to derive from the
Slavic ''griva''; c.f.
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
, Russian,
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
, and
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
/ ''griva'', meaning "mane". It might have indicated something valuable worn around the neck, usually made of
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
or
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
; c.f. Bulgarian and Serbian ''grivna'' (, "bracelet"). Later, the word was used to describe silver or gold ingots of a certain weight; c.f.
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
''hryvenyk'' ().
Plural
The
nominative
In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
plural of hryvnia is ''hryvni'' ( uk, гривні), while the
genitive
In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
plural is ''hryven’'' ( uk, гривень). In Ukrainian, the nominative plural form is used for numbers ending with 2, 3, or 4, as in ''dvi hryvni'' (дві гривні, "2 hryvni"), and the genitive plural is used for numbers ending with 5 to 9 and 0, for example ''sto hryven’'' (сто гривень, "100 hryven’"); for numbers ending with 1 the nominative singular form is used, for example ''dvadciat’ odna hryvnia'' (двадцять одна гривня, "21 hryvnia"). An exception for this rule is numbers ending in 11, 12, 13 and 14 for which the genitive plural is also used, for example, ''dvanadciat’ hryven’'' (дванадцять гривень, "12 hryven’"). The singular for the subdivision is копійка (''kopiika''), the nominative plural is копійки (''kopiiky'') and the genitive is копійок (''kopiiok'').
Currency sign
![Hryvnia symbol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Hryvnia_symbol.svg)
The
hryvnia sign
The hryvnia sign (₴) is a currency symbol, used for the Ukrainian hryvnia currency since 2004.
Description
The hryvnia sign is a cursive minuscule Ukrainian Cyrillic letter He (''г''), or a mirrored letter S, with a double horizontal strok ...
is a
cursive
Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...
Ukrainian letter He (''г''), with a double horizontal stroke (₴), symbolizing stability, similar to that used in other currency symbols such as the
yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...
(¥),
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
(€),
Indian rupee
The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use wh ...
(₹), and
Chinese yuan
The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...
(¥ shares symbol with yen). The sign was encoded as U+20B4 in
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
4.1 and released in 2005. It is now supported by most systems. In Ukraine, if the hryvnia sign is unavailable, the Cyrillic abbreviation "грн" is used (which can be transliterated as "hrn").
History
![100karbovantsevUNR_R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/100karbovantsevUNR_R.jpg)
A currency called was used in Kievan Rus'. Following its secession from
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
the
Ukrainian National Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...
named their
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general def ...
''hryvnia'', a revised version of the Kievan Rus' ''hryvna;'' these were designed by
Heorhiy Narbut. After its takeover by
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, a
karbovanets was briefly issued from 1919-1920 before being supplanted by
Soviet ruble
The ruble or rouble (russian: рубль) was the currency of the Soviet Union, introduced in 1922, replacing the Imperial Russian ruble. One ruble was divided into 100 kopecks ( – ''kopeyka'', ''kopeyki''). Soviet banknotes and coins were pr ...
. (Karbovanets was in addition purposed during
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
occupation
from 1942-1945.)
The hryvnia replaced the
third Karbovanets (which had been issued to be purposed alongside collapsing Soviet ruble) during the period 2–16 September 1996, at a rate of 1 hryvnia to 100,000 karbovantsiv. The karbovanets was subject to
hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...
in the early 1990s following the
collapse of the USSR
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
.
To a large extent, the introduction of the hryvnia was secretive.
The hryvnia was introduced according to a
Presidential Decree dated 26 August 1996 that was published on August 29. During the transition period, 2–16 September, both hryvnias and karbovanets were used, but merchants were required to give change only in hryvnias. All bank accounts were converted to hryvnias automatically. During the transition period, 97% of karbovanets were taken out of circulation, including 56% in the first five days of the currency reform.
[ After 16 September 1996, the remaining karbovanets could be exchanged for hryvnias in banks.
The hryvnia was introduced during the period when ]Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
was the chairman of National Bank of Ukraine
National Bank of Ukraine ( uk, Національний банк України) or NBU ( uk, НБУ) is the central bank of Ukraine – a government body responsible for unified state policy in the field of country's monetary circulation, includ ...
. However, the first banknotes issued bore the signature of the previous National Bank chairman, Vadym Hetman
Vadym Petrovych Hetman ( uk, Вадим Петрович Гетьман; 12 July 1935 – 22 April 1998) was a Ukrainian statesman, politician, and banker. He is credited with the creation of the National Bank of Ukraine, Ukraine's central ban ...
, who resigned in 1993 because the first notes had been printed as early as 1992 by the Canadian Bank Note Company
The Canadian Bank Note Company (CBNC) is a Canadian security printing company. It is best known for holding the contract with the Bank of Canada to supply it with Canada's banknotes since 1935. The company's other clients include private busine ...
, but it was decided to delay their circulation until the hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...
in Ukraine was brought under control.
On 18 March 2014 following its seizure, the interim
An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities.
Interim may also refer to:
Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept)
*Provis ...
administration of the Republic of Crimea
The Republic of Crimea, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; uk, Республіка Крим, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; crh, , is an unrecognized federal subject (republic) of Russia, located in the Crimean Peninsula. Its territory cor ...
announced that the hryvnia was to be dropped as the region's currency in April 2014. The Russian ruble
''hum''; cv, тенкĕ ''tenke''; kv, шайт ''shayt''; Lak: къуруш ''k'urush''; Mari: теҥге ''tenge''; os, сом ''som''; tt-Cyrl, сум ''sum''; udm, манет ''manet''; sah, солкуобай ''solkuobay''
, name_ab ...
became the official currency in Crimea on 21 March 2014;[ until 1 June 2014, the hryvnia could be purposed for exclusively cash payments.][Crimea enters the rouble zone]
, ITAR-TASS
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
(1 June 2014)
By contrast, the hryvnia remains the predominant currency in the conflicted raion
A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...
s of Donbas
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
, i.e. within Russophilic
Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th Century ...
separatist
Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...
states of Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...
and Luhansk
Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...
; this is due to a lack of low-denomination Russian rubles within these regions.
Coinage
No coins were issued for the first hryvnia.
Coins were first struck in 1992 for the new currency; these were not introduced until September 1996. Initially, coins valued between 1 and 50 kopiiky were issued. In March 1997, ₴1 coins were added. Since 2004, several commemorative ₴1 coins have been struck.
In October 2012, the National Bank of Ukraine announced that it was examining the possibility of withdrawing the 1 and 2 kopiyky coins from circulation. The coins had become too expensive to produce compared to their nominal value. 1 and 2 kopiyky coins were not produced after 2013, however remaining in circulation until 1 October 2019.
Also, on 26 October 2012, the National Bank of Ukraine announced it was considering the introduction of a ₴2 coin.
Officially, as of 1 July 2016, 12.4 billion coins, with a face value of ₴1.4 billion were in circulation.
On 1 October 2019, 1, 2 and 5 kopiyky coins ceased to be legal tender. They can be still changed at banks, but bills have to be rounded to the next 0.10-step.
Banknotes
In 1996, the first series of hryvnia banknotes was introduced into circulation by the National Bank of Ukraine
National Bank of Ukraine ( uk, Національний банк України) or NBU ( uk, НБУ) is the central bank of Ukraine – a government body responsible for unified state policy in the field of country's monetary circulation, includ ...
. They were dated 1992 and were in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 hryvnias. The design of the banknotes was developed by Ukrainian artists Vasyl Lopata and Borys Maksymov. The one hryvnia banknotes were printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company
The Canadian Bank Note Company (CBNC) is a Canadian security printing company. It is best known for holding the contract with the Bank of Canada to supply it with Canada's banknotes since 1935. The company's other clients include private busine ...
in 1992. The two, five and ten hryvnia banknotes were printed two years later. The banknotes were stored in Canada until they were put into circulation.
Banknotes of the first series in denominations of 50 and 100 hryvnias also existed but were not introduced because these nominals were not needed in the economic crisis of the mid-1990s.
Also in 1996, the 1, 50, and 100 hryvnia notes of the second series were introduced, with 1 hryvnia dated 1994. The banknotes were designed and printed by Britain's De La Rue
De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printe ...
. Since the opening of the Mint of the National Bank of Ukraine in cooperation with De La Rue in March 1994, all banknotes have been printed in Ukraine.[
Later, higher denominations were added. The 200 hryvnia notes of the second series were introduced in 2001, followed by the 500 hryvnia notes of the third series in 2006, and 1000 hryvnia notes of fourth series in 2019.
The 100 hryvnia denomination is quite common due to its moderately high value. Also common is the 200 and 500 hryvnia, as most Ukrainian ATMs dispense currency in these denominations.
In 2016, the NBU paper factory started producing banknote paper using flax instead of cotton.
In 2019, the National Bank of Ukraine introduced a 1,000 hryvnia banknote and was issued into circulation on 25 October 2019. The introduction of the new banknote was in response to the National Bank of Ukraine's efforts of streamlining the number of coins and banknotes already in circulation. The 1, 2, 5 and 10 hryvnia banknotes will continue to be legal tender alongside its equivalent coins in general circulation, while being withdrawn from circulation from repeated use in commerce.
In 2019, the National Bank of Ukraine introduced a revised 50 hryvnia banknote into circulation on 20 December 2019 and issued a revised 200 hryvnia banknote on 25 February 2020, thereby completing the family of notes which began with the issuance of the 100 hryvnia banknote in 2015.
]
Current series
Exchange rates
Official NBU
In Mandaeism, ʿNbu ( myz, ࡏࡍࡁࡅ) or Nbu is the Mandaic name for the planet Mercury. Nbu is one of the seven planets ( myz, ࡔࡅࡁࡀ, translit=šuba, lit=The Seven), who are part of the entourage of Ruha in the World of Darkness.
N ...
exchange rate at moment of introduction was UAH 1.76 per 1 US dollar
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
.
Following the Asian financial crisis
The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...
in 1998, the currency was devalued to UAH 5.6 = USD 1.00 in February 2000. Later, the exchange rate remained relatively stable at around 5.4 hryvnias for 1 US dollar and was fixed to 5.05 hryvnias for 1 US dollar from 21 April 2005 until 21 May 2008. In mid-October 2008 rapid devaluation began, in the course of a global financial crisis
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
that hit Ukraine hard, with the hryvnia dropping 38.4% from UAH 4.85 for 1 US dollar on 23 September 2008 to UAH 7.88 for 1 US dollar on 19 December 2008.[National Bank of Ukraine]
, historical exchange rates After a period of instability, a new peg of 8 hryvnias per US dollar was established, remaining for several years. In 2012, the peg was changed to a managed float (much like that of the Chinese yuan
The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...
) as the euro and other European countries' currencies weakened against the dollar due to the European debt crisis
The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, is a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone membe ...
, and the value in mid-2012 was about ₴8.14 per dollar.
As from 7 February 2014, following political instability in Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine changed the hryvnia into a fluctuating/floating currency in an attempt to meet IMF requirements and to try to enforce a stable price for the currency in the Forex market
The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all aspec ...
. In 2014 and 2015 the hryvnia lost about 70% of its value against the U.S. dollar, with the currency reaching a record low of ₴33 per dollar in February 2015.
As from 24 February 2014,
On 31 July 2019, the hryvnia to U.S. dollar exchange rate in the interbank foreign exchange market strengthened to ₴24.98 — the highest level in 3 years.
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, the official exchange rate of hryvnia was fixed at ₴29.25 per 1 US dollar and ₴33.17 per 1 Euro. On July 21, 2022, it was devalued to ₴36.92 per 1 US dollar.
The real exchange rate of the hryvnia to U.S. dollar is approximately ₴40.58 per 1 US dollar on black market.[The real exchange rate of the hryvnia to U.S. dollar on black market https://usd.currencyrate.today/uah]
See also
*Economy of Ukraine
The economy of Ukraine is an emerging, mixed economy located in Eastern Europe. It grew rapidly from 2000 until 2008 when the Great Recession began worldwide and reached Ukraine. The economy recovered in 2010 and continued improving until 2013 ...
*List of commemorative coins of Ukraine
This is a list of Commemorative and Jubilee coins issued by the Ukrainian government.
Number of coins
Airplanes of Ukraine
* Commemorative Coins "Mriya" AN-225 aircraft" (2002, silver)
* Commemorative Coins "AN-2 aircraft" (2003, silver)
* ...
*List of currencies in Europe
There are 29 currencies currently used in the 50 countries of Europe, all of which are members of the United Nations, except Vatican City, which is an observer with the United Nations General Assembly. All ''de facto'' present currencies in Eur ...
*Hryvnia
The or ( ; uk, гривня , : ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 . It is named after a measure of weight used in medieval Kievan Rus'.
Name Etym ...
*Grzywna (unit)
The grzywna () was a measure of weight, mainly for silver, commonly used throughout medieval central and eastern Europe, particularly in the Kingdom of Poland and Kingdom of Bohemia ( cz, hřivna).
Grzywna was also a unit of measure of a unit o ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
History of Hryvnia
National Bank of Ukraine announcement of Hryvnia Sign
Proposed symbols for hryvnia during design competition
Detailed Catalog of Ukrainian paper money
Odessa Numismatics Museum
(Numista)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ukrainian Hryvnia
Economic history of Ukraine
Circulating currencies
Currency symbols
Currencies of Ukraine
Currencies introduced in 1996
Ukrainian words and phrases