Hungarian pengő

Hungarian pengő

pengő  (Hungarian)

100 million b.‑pengő (1946)
Central bank Hungarian National Bank
 Website www.mnb.hu
User(s) Hungary Kingdom of Hungary
Hungary Republic of Hungary
Superunit
 106 milpengő
 1012 b.-pengő
Subunit
 1/100 fillér
(defunct)
Symbol P
Coins (all withdrawn)
Banknotes 10 000, 100 000, 1 million, 10 million, 100 million, 1000 million milpengő;
10 000, 100 000, 1 million, 10 million, 100 million, 1 billion b.‑pengő
Printer Hungarian Banknote Printing Corp.
 Website www.penzjegynyomda.hu
Mint Hungarian Mint Ltd.
 Website www.penzvero.hu
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The pengő (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈpɛŋɡøː], sometimes written as pengo or pengoe in English) was the currency of Hungary between 1 January 1927, when it replaced the korona, and 31 July 1946, when it was replaced by the forint. The pengő was subdivided into 100 fillér. Although the introduction of the pengő was part of a post-World War I stabilisation program, the currency survived for only 20 years and experienced the most serious hyperinflation ever recorded.[1][2]

Name

The Hungarian participle pengő means 'ringing' (which in turn derives from the verb peng, an onomatopoeic word equivalent to English 'ring') and was used from the 15–17th century to refer to silver coins making a ringing sound when struck on a hard surface, thus indicating their precious metal content. (The onomatopoeic word used for gold coins is csengő, an equivalent of English 'clinking' meaning a sharper sound; the participle used for copper coins is kongó meaning a deep pealing sound.) After the introduction of forint paper money in Hungary, the term pengő forint was used to refer to forint coins literally meaning 'ringing forint', figuratively meaning 'silver forint' or 'hard currency'.[3]

At the beginning of the First World War precious metal coins were recalled from circulation, and in the early 1920s all coins disappeared because of the heavy inflation of the Hungarian korona. The name pengő was probably chosen to suggest stability. However, there was some controversy when choosing the name of the new currency, though the majority agreed that a Hungarian name should be chosen. Proposals included turul (a bird from Hungarian mythology), turán (from the geographical name and ideological term Turan), libertás (the colloquial name of the poltura coins issued by Francis II Rákóczi), and máriás (the colloquial name of coins depicting Mary, patroness of Hungary).

The denomination of the banknotes was indicated in the languages of ethnicities living in the territory of Hungary. The name of the currency was translated as follows: Pengö (pl. Pengö) in German, pengő (pl. pengi) in Slovak, пенгов (pl. пенгова) in Cyrillic script Serbo-Croatian, пенгыв (pl. пенгывов, later пенге) in Rusyn, and pengő (pl. pengei, later penghei) in Romanian. Later pengov (pl. pengova), the Latin script Serbo-Croatian version was also added.

The symbol of the pengő was P and it was divided into 100 fillér (symbol: f).

History

Introduction of the pengő

After the First World War, according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the Austro-Hungarian Bank (the joint bank of the Monarchy) had to be liquidated and the Austro-Hungarian krone had to be replaced with a different currency, which in the case of Hungary was the Hungarian korona. This currency suffered a high rate of inflation during the early 1920s. A stabilisation program covered by League of Nations loan helped to bring down inflation, and the korona could be replaced on 1 January 1927 by a new currency, the pengő, which was introduced by Act XXXV of 1925[4] It was valued at 12,500 korona, and defined as 3,800 to one kilogram of fine gold – which meant that the pengő was pegged to the gold standard, however, without exchange obligation. In the beginning the cover ratio (which included gold and – to 50% – foreign exchange) was fixed at 20% which had to be raised to 33.3% within five years.[5] This goal was reached quickly: the cover ratio was 51% on 31 July 1930. Later it decreased somewhat due to the economic and financial crisis caused by the Great Depression. Until then the pengő was the most stable currency of the region.

After the Great Depression

The effects of the Great Depression reached Hungary after 1930 and it hit predominantly agriculture. The pengő had to be devalued and the debt of the country increased. After a short period of recovery, the war preparations – amongst which the most important was the Győr-program – had loosened the financial and monetary discipline which in turn led to the depreciation of the pengő currency. The territories given back to Hungary by the Vienna Awards in 1938 and 1940 were economically less developed, which was an additional aggravating factor regarding the economic situation of the country.

World War II

The war caused enormous costs and, later, even higher losses to the relatively small and open Hungarian economy. The national bank was practically under government control, the issue of money was proportional to the budget demands. By this time, silver coins disappeared from circulation, and, later, even bronze and cupro-nickel coins were replaced by coins made of cheaper metal. In the last act of the world war, the Szálasi government took control of banknote printing and issued notes without any cover, first in Budapest, then in Veszprém when Budapest had to be evacuated. The occupying Soviet army issued its own military money according to the Hague Conventions.

Hyperinflation

Sweeping inflation banknotes after the introduction of the forint (August 1946).

The pengő lost value after World War II, suffering the highest rate of hyperinflation ever recorded. There were several attempts to break down inflation, such as a 75% capital levy in December 1945. However, this did not stop the hyperinflation and prices continued spiraling out of control, with ever higher denominations introduced. The denominations milpengő (1,000,000 pengő) and b.-pengő (pronunciation: bilpengő) (1,000,000 milpengő, 1,000,000,000,000 pengő or one billion pengő (long scale)) were used to alleviate calculations, cut down the number of zeros and enable the reuse of banknote designs with only the colour and denomination name changed.

Adópengő

Main article: Hungarian adópengő

The adópengő (lit. "tax pengő") was introduced on 1 January 1946 as an accounting unit for budget planning. However, from 8 July 1946, it was allowed to be used as legal tender. It was intended to retain its value as the pengő's fell. However, although its value rose dramatically relative to the pengő (finally reaching 2×1021 pengő), the adópengő nevertheless suffered severely from inflation. By July 1946, the adópengő became the only circulating currency as the pengő's value had fallen to such an extent that even the 100 million b.-pengő note was effectively worthless.

End of the pengő

The Hungarian economy could only be stabilized by the introduction of a new currency, and therefore, on 1 August 1946, the forint was reintroduced at a rate of 400 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 (400 octillion) = 4×1029 pengő, dropping 29 zeros from the old currency. In effect, the total amount of circulating pengő notes had a value of less than 0.1 fillér (0.001 forint). A more realistic comparison was the exchange rate with the adópengő, which was set at 200 000 000 = 2×108 (hence the 2×1021 ratio, mentioned above).[6] The exchange rate for the gold was set at 13.21 forint per gram.

Coins

2 pengő, 1936

In 1926, 1, 2, 10, 20 and 50 fillér and 1 pengő coins were introduced. The 1 and 2 fillér pieces were bronze, the 10, 20 and 50 fillér were cupro-nickel and the 1 pengő coins were 64% silver. In 1929, 2 pengő coins were introduced, also in 64% silver. Commemorative 2 and 5 pengő coins were also issued on anniversaries, with a non-commemorative 5 pengő coin issued in 1939.

During the Second World War, the 1 fillér ceased production, the 2 fillér coins were issued in steel and then zinc, the 10 and 20 fillér coins were minted in steel and the 1, 2 and 5 pengő pieces were of aluminium.

In 1945, the provisional government issued aluminium 5 pengő coins which were the last coins issued before the hyperinflation.

Paper money

10 pengő, 1926

The Hungarian National Bank issued the first series of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 pengő banknotes in the last days of 1926. These were offset prints on watermarked paper (except for the 5 pengő note). The banknotes featured the outstanding people of the Hungarian history on the obverse and either different sites of Budapest or paintings on the reverse: the banknotes also served education purposes.

10 pengő, 1929

A new series of banknotes had to be printed soon to meet higher security standards. The engravings were executed and designed by Endre Horváth, Hungarian graphic artist. New 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 pengő notes were printed and even a 1000 pengő banknote was added to this series - however, the latter had such a high value that a big proportion of the people hardly ever saw any. This new series had almost the same topic as the previous. On the other hand, the 5 pengő notes were soon replaced with silver coins.

10 pengő, 1936

After the Vienna Award, Hungary had to supply its recovered territories with money. Since increasing the amount of silver coins would have been too expensive, 1 and 5 pengő notes were issued in 1941 and 1938, respectively. These notes were of simple design and poor quality. Meanwhile, a series of new banknotes including 2, 5, 10 and 20 pengő denominations was issued. The design represented ornaments based on Hungarian folk art and people.

At the end of the Second World War, the Szálasi government and the occupying Soviet army issued provisional notes in the territories under their power without any cover.

10 million milpengő, 1946

In 1945 and 1946, hyperinflation caused the issuance of notes up to 100 million b.-pengő (100 quintillion or 1020 pengő). During the hyperinflation, note designs were reused, changing the colour and replacing the word pengő with first milpengő, then b.-pengő, to generate higher denominations. The largest denomination produced was 100 million b.-pengő (100 quintillion or 1020 pengő). The note was initially worth about US$0.20. Notes of one milliard b.-pengő (one sextillion or 1021 pengő) were printed but never issued.

10 million adópengő, 1946

The introduction of adópengő was an attempt to keep inflation amongst limits, however, it could only slow down somewhat but did not stop the depreciation of the currency. Bonds were issued by the Ministry of Finance in denominations between 10 000 and 100 000 000 adópengő. These simple design notes on low-quality paper became legal currency in the last months of the Hyperinflation almost completely replacing pengő.

The enormous amount of paper consumed during the production of the inflation pengő notes caused a shortage of good quality security paper; this hindered the production of forint banknotes.

Historical exchange rates

Exchange rates (1 USD = X pengő)
DatePengő[7][8]
1 January 1927 5.26
31 December 1937 5.40
31 Mar 1941 5.06
30 June 1944 33.51
31 August 1945 1320
31 October 1945 8200
30 November 1945 108000
31 December 1945 128000
31 January 1946 795000
31 March 1946 1750000
30 April 1946 59000000000
(5.9×1010)
31 May 1946 42000000000000000
(4.2×1016)
31 July 1946 460000000000000000000000000000
(4.6×1029)
Exchange rates (1 adópengő = X pengő)
DatePengő[9]
1 January 19461
1 February 1946 1.7
1 March 1946 10
1 April 1946 44
1 May 1946 630
1 June 1946 160000
1 July 1946 7500000000
(7.5×109)
31 July 1946 2000000000000000000000
(2×1021)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, Bryan. "The Worst Hyperinflations in History: Hungary". Global Financial Data. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  2. ↑ Boesler, Matthew. "How 9 Countries Saw Inflation Evolve Into Hyperinflation". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  3. ↑ (Hungarian) (info on the etymology of the word pengő)
  4. ↑ (Hungarian) www.1000ev.hu (the Law No. XXXV 1925 – definition of the pengő value and related regulations)
  5. ↑ (Hungarian) mek.oszk.hu (Hungary in the 20th century)
  6. ↑ 8640/1946. M. E. számú rendelet a pengőnek és az adópengőnek forintra való átszámításánál irányadó értékarány megállapítása tárgyában. Magyar Közlöny 170/1946. szám. (Presidential order No. 8640/1946 on the setting of value ratio applicable when converting pengő and adópengő to forint. Hungarian Gazette 170/1946.
  7. ↑ (Hungarian) www.centropa.hu
  8. ↑ (Hungarian) www.numismatics.hu
  9. ↑ (English) http://shoebox.heindorffhus.dk/frame-HungaryInflation03.htm

Further reading

External links

Pengő
Preceded by:
Hungarian korona
Reason: inflation
Ratio: 1 pengő = 12,500 korona		 Currency of Hungary
1 January 1927 – 31 July 1946
Concurrent with: adópengő since 1 January 1946
Note: korona notes overstamped to pengő in 1926 were not legally considered pengő		 Succeeded by:
Hungarian forint
Reason: inflation
Ratio: 1 forint = 4×1029 pengő
Note: notes were denominated in milpengő and b.-pengő for practical reasons
Preceded by:
Yugoslav 1920 dinar
Reason: Hungarian occupation		 Currency of Bačka, Međimurje (as part of Hungary)
1941 – 1945		 Succeeded by:
Yugoslav 1945 dinar
Reason: reunification of Yugoslavia as a result of World War II and end of Hungarian occupation
Preceded by:
Czechoslovak koruna
Reason: First Vienna Award		 Currency of southern Slovakia (as part of Hungary)
1938 – 1945		 Succeeded by:
Czechoslovak koruna
Reason: reunification of Czechoslovakia as a result of World War II and end of Hungarian occupation
Currency of Subcarpathia (as part of Hungary)
1938 – 1945		 Succeeded by:
Soviet ruble
Reason: became part of Ukraine SSR, Soviet Union as a result of World War II and end of Hungarian occupation
Preceded by:
Romanian leu
Reason: Second Vienna Award		 Currency of northern Transylvania (as part of Hungary)
1940 – 1944		 Succeeded by:
Romanian leu
Reason: returned to Romania as a result of World War II and end of Hungarian occupation
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