Denomination

Banknotes of 5000 denomination in different currencies including Franc, Yen, Lire, and Dollar

Denomination is a proper description of a currency amount, usually for coins or banknotes. Denominations may also be used with other means of payment like gift cards.

Subunit and super unit

In a currency system, there is usually a main unit (base), and a subunit that is a fraction amount of the main unit. In some countries, there are multiple levels of subunits. In the Ottoman Empire, 1 lira = 100 kuruş = 4000 para = 12000 akçe. Today, only a few places use this practice, notably Chinese speaking regions: mainland China (renminbi), Hong Kong (Hong Kong dollar), and Republic of China (New Taiwan dollar). In addition, Jordanian dinar is divided into 10 dirham, 100 qirsh/piastres, or 1000 fils. Many countries today where Western European languages are spoken have their main units divided into 100 cents or derivatives of the word cent.

Occasionally, a super unit is used as multiples of the main unit. Examples include Korean whan = 5 yang in 1893, Iranian toman 10 rials (used informally today). In the Ottoman Empire, lira and kuruş were super units at some point before becoming the main unit.

Decimal vs. non-decimal

A decimal currency is a currency where the ratio between the main unit and the subunit is an integral power of 10. Non-decimal currencies have the advantage in daily life transactions. For example, 1 South German Gulden = 60 Kreuzer. 60 Kreuzer can be divided into 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 parts that are still integers, making pricing easy. The underlining difference is that 60 has a higher density of divisors (¹²⁄₆₀ = 20%) than 100 (⁹⁄₁₀₀ = 9%). The main reason why many currencies before modern times were non-decimal is because the main units at that time were often quite large and computers were not invented yet.^{[citation needed]}

Choice of name

It is common to name a unit with a unit of weight, such as pound, lira, and baht. These currencies are usually originally defined as that amount of some precious metal. Another choice of name is some form of derivative of the political entity. Afghan afghani and euro fall into this category. Sometimes the name is simply the name of the metal, of which the coins are made, such as Polish złoty and Vietnamese đồng.

Redenomination

Inflationary

Due to inflation, the same amount of monetary units have continually decreasing purchasing power. In other words, prices of the same products or services must be expressed in higher numbers. When prices reach a certain point, the high numbers can impede the well being of daily transactions because of the risk and inconvenience of carrying stacks of bills, strain on systems, e.g., automatic teller machines (ATMs), and because human psychology does not handle large numbers well. To address this problem, authorities can alleviate it through the process of redenomination. Redenomination is the process where a new unit replaces the old unit with a certain ratio. If inflation is the reason for redenomination, this ratio is some number larger than 1, usually a positive integral power of 10 like 100, 1000 or 1 million, and the procedure can be referred to as "cutting zeroes".^[1] Recent examples include

Although the ratio is often a positive integral power of 10, sometimes it can be a × 10ⁿ where a is a single digit integer and n is a positive integer. Partial examples include

Occasionally, the ratio is defined in a way such that the new unit is equal to a hard currency. As a result, the ratio may not be based on an integer. Examples include

In the case of hyperinflation, the ratio can go as high as millions or billions, to a point where scientific notation is used for clarity or long and short scales are mentioned to disambiguate what kind of billion/trillion is meant.

In the case of chronic inflation or regular inflation, the authorities have a choice: a large redenomination ratio or a small redenomination ratio. When using a small ratio, more redenomination processes must be carried out in the long run. And each occurrence incurs costs of productivity in the financial, accounting, and computing industry. As a result, small ratio has the disadvantage of more cost associated to the changeover. However, the period of prices with large number can be shortened with a small ratio.

During a redenomination process, the new unit is often the same as the old unit, with the addition of the word "new". The word "new" may or may not be dropped a few years after the change. Sometimes the new unit is a completely new name, or a "recycled" name from previous redenomination or from ancient times.

Monetary union

When countries form a monetary union, redenomination may be required and the conversion ratio is often not an even number, or even less than 1.

Decimalisation

In many countries where a pounds-shillings-pence £sd system (£1 = 20 shillings = 240 pence) was used, the process of decimalisation was carried out. While they were at it, some chose to change the main unit as well. By defining 1 dollar = £0.5 = 100 cents, 1 shilling would conveniently turn into 10 cents. This is also a prime example where the ratio is less than 1.

New unit	=	x	Old unit	year
German gold mark	=	1/3	Vereinsthaler	1873
(New) Penny	=	2.4	Penny	1971
South African rand	=	0.5	South African pound	1961
Australian dollar	=	0.5	Australian pound	1966
New Zealand dollar	=	0.5	New Zealand pound	1967
This table is not exhaustive.

Book keeping

When redenomination occurs, financial data that spans across the change must be presented with proper annotation. Otherwise, the data could give the illusion of astronomical change. For example, the GDP reported by the Central Bank of Nicaragua is properly documented.

List of currency redenominations

This table lists various currency redenominations that have occurred, including currency renaming where the exchange rate is 1:1.

To view the chronology of redenominations of a particular country: 1) Press sorting button of column Year 2) Press button of Country.

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References

See also

Numismatics portal

• Least valued currency unit
• Highest valued currency unit
• Devaluation
• Inflation
• Chronic inflation
• Hyperinflation
• Decimalisation
• Decimal currency
• Non-decimal currencies
• Denomination (postage stamp)