Forints

Hungarian forint
Magyar forint (Hungarian)
Coins and banknotes of the Hungarian forint.
ISO 4217
Code	HUF
Denominations
Subunit
1/100	fillér (defunct)
Plural	The language(s) of this currency does not have a morphological plural distinction.
Symbol	Ft
Banknotes	500 Ft, 1000 Ft, 2000 Ft, 5000 Ft, 10,000 Ft, 20,000 Ft
Coins	5 Ft, 10 Ft, 20 Ft, 50 Ft, 100 Ft, 200 Ft
Demographics
Date of introduction	1 August 1946
Source	8.700/1946 (VII.29) Decree of the Prime Minister
User(s)	Hungary
Issuance
Central bank	Hungarian National Bank
Website	www.mnb.hu
Printer	Pénzjegynyomda Zrt. Budapest
Website	www.penzjegynyomda.hu
Mint	Hungarian Mint Ltd.
Website	www.penzvero.hu
Valuation
Inflation	1.3%
Source	June 2014

The forint (sign: Ft; code: HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It was formerly divided into 100 fillér, but fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step in the post-World War II stabilization of the Hungarian economy, and the currency remained relatively stable until the 1980s. Transition to a market economy in the early 1990s adversely affected the value of the forint; inflation peaked at 35% in 1991. Since 2001, inflation is in single digits, and the forint has been declared fully convertible. As a member of the European Union, the long -term aim of the Hungarian government may be to replace the forint with the euro, but that does not appear to be likely until some time during the 2020s.

The forint's name comes from the city of Florence, where gold coins were minted from 1252 called fiorino d'oro. In Hungary, florentinus (later forint), also a gold-based currency, was used from 1325 under Charles Robert and several other countries followed its example.

Between 1868 and 1892 the forint was the name used in Hungarian for the currency of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, known in German as the gulden or florin. It was subdivided into 100 krajczár (krajcár in modern Hungarian orthography).

The forint was reintroduced on 1 August 1946, after the pengő was rendered almost worthless by massive hyperinflation in 1945–46: the highest ever recorded. The process was managed by the Hungarian Communist Party, which held the relevant cabinet seats. The forint's success was exploited for political gains, contributing to the Communists' takeover of complete power in 1948–49. The forint replaced the pengő at the rate of 1 forint = 4×10²⁹ pengő—dropping 29 zeroes from the old currency. In fact, this was an imaginary exchange rate. With the highest value note being 100 million B. pengő (10²⁰ pengő), the total amount of pengő in circulation had a value of less than 0.1 fillér. (The "B" stood for an old-style "billion", i.e. a million million.) Of more significance was the exchange rate to the adópengő of 1 forint = 200 million adópengő.