Polish złoty celebrates 90th anniversary

Monday marked the 90th anniversary of the decision to introduce the złoty as Poland’s currency. In a decree dated Jan 20 1924 the country’s president also decided on creating a national bank. In the first years after Poland regained independence in 1918, following over one hundred years of its territory being divided in between Austria, Prussia and Russia, the currencies of those countries were still in use. The Polish mark, introduced in 1916, was yet another of them. The name złoty (literally: golden) had been earlier used for money in Poland, but in the early years of independence, other names were also suggested for the national currency: piast, pol and lech. Establishing the Polish złoty as the national currency was only the first step in a process aimed at reforming the country’s then troubled economy. A set of regulations enforced by the government led by Władysław Grabski was necessary to fight hyperinflation and crisis.