The tenge ( or ; kk, теңге, teñge, ;

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 ...

: ₸ ;

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 communicati ...

: KZT) is the currency of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. It is divided into 100 tiyn ( kk, тиын, tıyın also transliterated as ''tiyin'').

History

After the breakup of the

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 nationa ...

in December 1991, most of the formerly Soviet republics attempted to maintain a common currency. Some politicians hoped to at least maintain "special relations" among former Soviet republics (the "

near abroad The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

"). Other reasons were the economic considerations for maintaining the rouble zone. The wish to preserve strong trade relations between former Soviet republics was considered the most important goal. The break-up of the Soviet Union was not accompanied by any formal changes in monetary arrangements. The

Central Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR; ), doing business as the Bank of Russia (russian: Банк России}), is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on July 13, 1990. The predecessor of the bank can ...

was authorized to take over the State Bank of the USSR (

Gosbank Gosbank (russian: Госбанк, Государственный банк СССР, ''Gosudarstvenny bank SSSR''—the State Bank of the USSR) was the central bank of the Soviet Union and the only bank in the entire country from 1922 to 1991 ...

) on 1 January 1992. It continued to ship Soviet notes and coins to the central banks of the eleven newly independent countries, which had formerly been the main branches of Gosbank in the republics. The political situation, however, was not favourable for maintaining a common currency. Maintaining a common currency requires a strong political consensus in respect to monetary and fiscal targets, a common institution in charge of implementing these targets, and some minimum of common legislation (concerning the banking and foreign-exchange regulations). These conditions were far from being met amidst the turbulent economic and political situation. During the first half of 1992, a

monetary union A currency union (also known as monetary union) is an intergovernmental agreement that involves two or more states sharing the same currency. These states may not necessarily have any further integration (such as an economic and monetary union, ...

with 15 independent states all using the rouble existed. Since it was clear that the situation would not last, each of them was using its position as "free-riders" to issue huge amounts of money in the form of credit. As a result, some countries were issuing coupons in order to "protect" their markets from buyers from other states. The

Russian central bank The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR; ), doing business as the Bank of Russia (russian: Банк России}), is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on July 13, 1990. The predecessor of the bank can ...

responded in July 1992 by setting up restrictions to the flow of credit between Russia and other states. The final collapse of the rouble zone began when Russia pulled out with the exchange of banknotes by the Central Bank of Russia on Russian territory at the end of July 1993. As a result, Kazakhstan and other countries still in the rouble zone were "pushed out". On November 12, 1993, the

President of Kazakhstan The president of the Republic of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Республикасының Президенті, Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ Prezidentı; russian: Президент Республики Казахстан, Prezident Respu ...

issued a

decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used ...

"On introducing national currency of Republic of Kazakhstan". The tenge was introduced on 15 November 1993 to replace Soviet currency at a rate of T 1 = Rbls 500. In 1991 a "special group" of designers was set up: Mendybay Alin, Timur Suleymenov, Asimsaly Duzelkhanov and Khayrulla Gabzhalilov. Thus November 15 is celebrated as the "Day of National Currency of Republic of Kazakhstan". In 1995 a tenge-printing factory opened in Kazakhstan. The first consignment of tenge banknotes were printed in the United Kingdom and the first coins were struck in Germany. In February 2019, Kazakh President

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

signed a bill into law that will remove all Russian captions from future tenge banknotes and coins.

Etymology

The word ''tenge'' in Kazakh and in most other

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia ( Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turki ...

means a set of

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

(''cf'' the old Uzbek ''tenga'' or the Tajik borrowed term ''tanga''). The origin of the word is the Mongolic word ''teng'' (ᠲᠡᠩ) which means "being equal, balance". The name of this currency is thus similar to the pound,

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named " doll ...

taka The Bangladeshi taka ( bn, টাকা, sign: , code: BDT, short form: Tk) is the currency of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. In Unicode, it is encoded at . Issuance of bank notes 10 and larger is controlled by Bangladesh Bank, whil ...

, and

shekel Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...

. The name of the currency is also related to the Russian word for money russian: деньги / , which the Old Russian language borrowed from Turkic sources.

Symbol

Originally a simple letter " Т" was used to denote amounts in tenge, this is still recommended when the tenge symbol is not available. In autumn 2006 the National Bank of Kazakhstan organised a competition for a unique symbol for the currency and received over 30,000 applications. On March 20, 2007, two days before the

Nauryz Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...

holiday, the

National Bank of Kazakhstan is the central bank of Kazakhstan. History The National Bank of Kazakhstan was established on the basis of the Kazakh Republican Bank of the State Bank of the USSR (since 1990 - the State Bank of the Kazakh SSR, since 1991 - the National State Ba ...

approved a graphical symbol for the tenge: ₸. On March 29, 2007, the Bank announced two designers from

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of ...

, Vadim Davydenko and Sanzhar Amirkhanov, as winners for the design of the symbol of the Kazakhstani tenge. They shared a prize of ₸1,000,000 and the title of "parents" of the tenge symbol. The character was included in Unicode 5.2.0 (August 2009) at code point U+20B8.

Coins

While older coins were struck in Germany, current coins are struck domestically, by the Kazakhstan Mint in

Oskemen Oskemen ( kk, Өскемен, translit=Öskemen ), or Ust-Kamenogorsk (russian: Усть-Каменого́рск), is the administrative center of East Kazakhstan Region of Kazakhstan. Population: Name The city has two official names. In th ...

First series (1993)

In 1993, the first series of coins were introduced in denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 tiyin featuring the national arms and were struck in bronze. The coins of T 1, T 3, T 5, T 10, and T 20 were struck in cupro-nickel and depicted stylized and mythical animals. The coins of this period circulated alongside tiyin and low denomination tenge notes of equal value. Tiyin coins were withdrawn as of February 7, 2001 and lost their effect as legal currency as of December 31, 2012.

Second series (1998)

In 1998, a new series of coins was introduced. After the withdrawal of tiyin denominated coins T 1 became the smallest denomination. T 100 were later introduced in 2002 replacing the equivalent notes. A T 2 coin was introduced in 2005. In 2013 the alloy of lower denomination coins was altered.

Third series (2019)

In 2019, a new series of coins was introduced into circulation, with the same coin specifications and metallic compositions as the second series. But with the inscriptions of the coins now rendered in Latin-based Kazakh instead of Kazakh-based Cyrillic. The coins were issued as part of the efforts of the presidential decree issued by former President

of its transition of switching from a Cyrillic-based alphabet to a Latin-based alphabet and emphasizing Kazakh culture and distance the country from Russian influence. The designs of the coins were approved by Interim President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev on March 20, 2019. Previously issued coins bearing the Kazakh Cyrillic script will remain legal tender alongside the new Kazakh Latin inscribed coins. In 2019, the National Bank of Kazakhstan announced the issuance of new ₸200 coins, which were issued into circulation in 2020. This new denomination features inscriptions in Latin-based Kazakh, and like the ₸100 coin, is bi-metallic.

Commemorative coins

Commemorative coin Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...

s are issued in denominations of ₸20, ₸50, ₸100, ₸500, ₸1,000, ₸2,500, ₸5,000 and ₸10,000. Silver and gold

bullion coin Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes fro ...

s exist in denominations of ₸1, ₸2, ₸5, ₸10, ₸20, ₸50 and ₸100. Many of the ₸20 and ₸50 commemoratives are also struck in cupro-nickel and occasionally make it out into general circulation as a side coinage with face value. TengeLogo

Banknotes

1993 series

On 15 November 1993, the

issued notes in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 tiyn, T 1, T 3, T 5, T 10, T 20, and T 50; T 100 notes followed shortly thereafter. These were followed in 1994 by T 200, T 500, and T 1,000 notes. T 2,000 notes were introduced in 1996, with T 5,000 in 1999 and T 10,000 on 28 July 2003. Notes currently in circulation are: *₸200 - portrait of

Al-Farabi Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a renowned early Isl ...

*₸500 - portrait of Al-Farabi, fragment of Khodzha Akhmet Yassaui

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...

*₸1,000 - portrait of Al-Farabi *₸2,000 - portrait of Al-Farabi *₸5,000 - portrait of Al-Farabi *₸10,000 - portrait of Al-Farabi, image of

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...

. The text on the reverse side of the 200 tenge banknote is written in Kazakh, although text on the reverse sides of the other banknotes is written in Russian.

2006 series

The

issued a new series of tenge banknotes in 2006. This was not a currency reform as they replaced existing notes at face value. The 2006 series is far more exotic than its predecessors. The obverse is vertical and the denomination is written in Kazakh. All denominations depict the Astana/Nur-Sultan Bayterek monument, the

flag of Kazakhstan The flag of Kazakhstan or Kazakh flag ( kk, Қазақстан туы, ; russian: Флаг Казахстана, translit=Flag Kazakhstana) was adopted on 4 June 1992, replacing the flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The flag was de ...

, the

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, the handprint with a signature of

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and fragments of the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

. The main differences across each denomination are only the colours, denominations and underprint patterns. On the contrast, the reverse side of the notes are more different. The denomination is written in Russian, and each denomination shows a unique building and

geography of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia (with 14% of the country in Eastern Europe). With an area of about Kazakhstan is more than twice the combined size of the other four Central Asian states and 60% larger than Alaska. The country borders Turkme ...

in the outline of its borders. The first printing of the ₸2,000 and ₸5,000 notes issued in 2006 had misspellings of the word for "bank" (the correct spelling "" ''bankı'' was misspelled "*" ''banqı''). The misspelling was a politically sensitive issue due to the cultural and political importance of the Kazakh language. On 3 October 2016, the ₸2,000, ₸5,000 and ₸10,000 banknotes of the 2006 series lost their legal tender status and are no longer valid. From 4 October 2016 to 3 October 2017, these notes can be exchanged without commission at any second tier bank and branches of the National Bank of Kazakhstan.

2011–2017 series

The

issued a new series of tenge banknotes dated 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 in denominations of ₸1,000, ₸2,000, ₸5,000, and ₸10,000. The designs for this series feature the "Kazakh Eli" monument on the front of the notes. On 1 December 2015, a new ₸20,000 banknote was introduced. It contains the issue date of 2013, and is a commemorative note to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the introduction of its national currency, but was not issued until 2015. In 2017, the National Bank of Kazakhstan issued a ₸500 banknote as part of this series, but has caused controversy over an image of a gull on the reverse side of the note and the image of the ''Moscow'' business center in Kazakhstan's capital of

Nur-Sultan Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

New series with security features 2008

Since 2008, a number of commemorative designs have been issued, including notes celebrating the 2011

Asian Winter Games The Asian Winter Games (AWG) is an international multi-sport event held every four years for members of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) which features winter events. The Japanese Olympic Committee first suggested the idea of holding a winter ...

hosted in Nur-Sultan. Commemoratives can typically be found in these denominations: ₸1,000, ₸2,000, ₸5,000, and ₸10,000.

Digital tenge

The National Bank of Kazakhstan publicly released plans to develop a national digital currency.

Commemorative banknotes

*T 5,000 (2001) File:Kazakhstan-2001-Bill-5000-Obverse.jpg, 5,000 tenge banknote issued in 2001 with overprint to commemorate the tenth anniversary of independence from the

(front). File:Kazakhstan-2001-Bill-5000-Reverse.jpg, 5,000 tenge banknote issued in 2001 with overprint to commemorate the tenth anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union (back). *₸5,000 (2008) File:Kazakhstan-2008-Bill-5000-Obverse.jpg, 5,000 tenge banknote issued in 2008 to commemorate 15 years of the Kazakhstani tenge (front). File:Kazakhstan-2008-Bill-5000-Reverse.jpg, 5,000 tenge banknote issued in 2008 to commemorate 15 years of the Kazakhstani tenge (back). *₸1,000 (2010) File:Kazakhstan-2010-Bill-1000-Obverse.jpg, 1,000 tenge banknote issued in 2010 to commemorate the Chairmanship of Kazakhstan in the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

(front). File:Kazakhstan-2010-Bill-1000-Reverse.jpg, 1,000 tenge banknote issued in 2010 to commemorate the Chairmanship of Kazakhstan in the

(back). *₸1,000 (2011) File:Kazakhstan-2011-Bill-1000-Obverse.jpg, 1,000 tenge banknote issued in 2011 to commemorate Kazakhstan's Presidency of the

Organisation of the Islamic Conference An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

(front). File:Kazakhstan-2011-Bill-1000-Reverse.jpg, 1,000 tenge banknote issued in 2011 to commemorate Kazakhstan's Presidency of the

(back). *₸2,000 (2011) File:Kazakhstan-2011-Bill-2000-Obverse.jpg, 2,000 tenge banknote issued in 2011 to commemorate the seventh

(front). File:Kazakhstan-2011-Bill-2000-Reverse.jpg, 2,000 tenge banknote issued in 2011 to commemorate the seventh

(back). *₸10,000 (2011) File:Kazakhstan-2011-Bill-10000-Obverse.jpg, 10,000 tenge banknote issued in 2011 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of independence from the

(front). File:Kazakhstan-2011-Bill-10000-Reverse.jpg, 10,000 tenge banknote issued in 2011 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of independence from the

(back). *₸1,000 (2013) 1,000 tenge banknote issued in 2013 to commemorate the "

Kul Tigin , native_name_lang = otk , image = Turkic Head of Koltegin Statue (35324303410).jpg , caption = Bust of Kul Tigin found at the Khoshoo Tsaidam burial site, in Khashaat, Arkhangai Province, Orkhon River valley. Located in the Nat ...

" – the monument of the Turkic runic writing. *₸10,000 (2016) The National Bank of Kazakhstan issued a 10,000 tenge commemorative banknote to commemorate the 25th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union. The commemorative note contains an image of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and was launched into circulation on the Day of the First President, December 1, 2016. *₸20,000 (2021) The National Bank of Kazakhstan issued a 20,000 tenge commemorative banknote to commemorate the 30th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union. The commemorative note features images of the first president of Kazakhstan, "Elbasy" Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Akorda Presidential Palace, a view of the capital city of Nur-Sultan and the official logo for the celebrations. The commemorative note is also the first to feature inscriptions in Kazakh-based Latin instead of Kazakh-based Cyrillic. The commemorative note was issued on December 16, 2021.

Exchange rates and inflation

On September 2, 2013, the National Bank of Kazakhstan moved the tenge from a managed float and pegged it to the

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 officia ...

and the

rouble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named '' ...

. On February 11, 2014, the Kazakh National Bank chose to devalue the tenge by 19% against the U.S. dollar in response to a weakening of the Russian ruble.Kazakhstan devalues tenge by almost 20%
The Financial Times, 11 February 2014 On August 20, 2015, The Kazakhstan National Bank has done away with the currency band with respect to conversion rate of tenge. Now, the tenge is a free-floating currency and its exchange rate against the major currencies are determined by demand and supply in the market. Due to this change, the tenge lost 30% of its value in a single day.

References

External links

Currency exchange rates in Kazakhstan

News from the National Bank of Kazakhstan

Coins of Kazakhstan

Banknotes of Kazakhstan

(Numista)
Kazakhstan Tenge: detailed catalog of banknotes
* {{Portal bar, Asia, Europe, Money, Numismatics Economy of Kazakhstan Currencies of Kazakhstan Currencies introduced in 1993 Currency symbols