The Koruna (English translation Crown) is the currency used in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It was also the currency of the federation of Czechoslovakia until the latter's dissolution in 1993.

The official name, the ISO 4217 code and the local acronym for koruna is Slovenská koruna, SKK, Sk (for Slovak koruna) and Koruna Česká, CZK, Kč (for Czech koruna). One koruna equals 100 hellers written shortly as "h" (Slovak: halier, Czech: haléř). The Slovak (or Czech) koruna acronym is placed behind the numeric value.

History

The Crown (in German Krone) was introduced in the Austria-Hungary monarchy on 11 September, 1892, as the first modern gold-based currency in the area. After the creation of the independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, an urgent need for establishing a new currency system, that would distinguish itself from the currencies of the other newly born countries suffering from inflation, emerged. The next year, on 10 April, 1919, a currency reform took place, defining the new Czechoslovak koruna (Koruna Československá, Kč/later Kčs). The first banknotes came into circulation the same year, the coins three years later, in 1922.

The koruna currency went through a number of further reforms. A particularly drastic one was undertaken in 1953. At that time the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia had to deal with the fact that the there was a double market in the country: a fixed market ensuring basic food availability - a remnant of the post war quota system, and a free market, in which goods were as much as eight times more expensive but of a higher quality. They decided to declare a currency reform valid from 1 June, 1953, and to distribute new banknotes printed in the USSR. The reform had been prepared very quickly and was confidential up to the last minute, but some information leaked anyway, causing a lot of panic among people. The night before the deadline, the president of Czechoslovakia Antonín Zápotocký had a radio speech, in which he strictly denied any possibility of a reform and quieted down the inhabitants, though he had to know that he was lying to the nation. The next day, people (that were lucky enough not to fit into the category of "capitalistic elements", a pejorative category to which the intelligence agency used to blacklist certain individuals) were allowed to change money up to 300 new crowns (in the rate of 5 old to 1 new koruna) and the rest in the rate of 50:1. All insurance stock, state obligations and other commercial papers were nullified. The economic situation of many people got worse insofar as many petitions and demonstrations broke out, the largest of which took place in Plzen, where 472 people were arrested.

In 1993, in accordance with the dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation, the Czechoslovak koruna split into two independent currencies - the Slovak koruna and the Czech koruna.

Slovak koruna

In Slovakia, coins of nominal value 50h, 1, 2, 5 and 10 crowns, and banknotes of nominal value 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 5000 crowns are used, as of 2004. The 10 and 20 heller coins were taken out of circulation by 31 December 2003.

The exchange rate (as of January 2005) of Slovak koruna to the US dollar is about 29 crowns to 1 dollar. The current exchange rate to various currencies can be found at [1].

Czech koruna

Czech Koruna Coins
Front	Back
1 koruna (1996)

In the Czech Republic, coins of nominal value 50h, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 crowns, and banknotes of nominal value 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 crowns are used, as of 2004 (20 and 50 crowns have both variants of means of payment, however 20 crowns is more common as a coin, whereas 50 crowns more common as a banknote). The 10 and 20 heller coins were taken out of circulation by 31 October 2003.

The exchange rate (as of January 2005) of the Czech koruna to the US dollar is about 23 crowns to 1 dollar. The current exchange rate to various currencies can be found at [2].

External links

• National bank of Slovakia information on the Slovak currency
• Czech National Bank information on Czech banknotes
• Czech National Bank information on Czech coins
• Czech currency Exchange rates from Czech banks and exchange offices