Georgian lari

ქართული ლარი

ISO 4217

Code

GEL

Denominations

Subunit

1/100

tetri

Symbol

, ლ, ₾, GEL

Banknotes

Freq. used

1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 lari

Rarely used

200, 500 lari

Coins

1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 tetri, 1, 2 lari

Demographics

User(s)

Georgia (except Abkhazia and South Ossetia)

Issuance

Central bank

National Bank of Georgia

Website

www.nbg.gov.ge

Valuation

Inflation

0.2% (November 2016)

Source

The World Factbook, 2013 est.

The lari (Georgian: ლარი; ISO 4217: GEL) is the currency of Georgia. It is divided into 100 tetri. The name lari is an old Georgian word denoting a hoard, property, while tetri is an old Georgian monetary term (meaning 'white') used in ancient Colchis from the 6th century BC. Earlier Georgian currencies include the maneti and abazi.

Georgia replaced the Russian ruble on 5 April 1993, with Kuponi at par. This currency consisted only of banknotes, had no subdivisions and suffered from hyperinflation. Notes were issued in denominations between 1 and 1 million Kuponi, including the somewhat unusual 3, 3000, 30,000 and 150,000 Kuponi.

On 2 October 1995, the government of Eduard Shevardnadze replaced the provisional coupon currency with the Lari, at a rate of one million to one. It has remained fairly stable since then.

On 8 July 2014, Giorgi Kadagidze, Governor of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), introduced the winning proposal for the sign of the national currency to the public and its author. The Georgian lari had its own sign.

The NBG announced the Lari sign competition in December 2013. The temporary commission consisted of representatives of NBG, the Budget and Finance Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, the State Council of Heraldry, the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia and the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia.

In choosing the winning sign, the commission gave priority to the samples based on the Georgian Mkhedruli character and made a point of the following criteria: conception, design, accordance with Georgian alphabet, existence of elements marking the currency, ease of construction, and observance of requests and recommendations determined by competition rules.

The Lari sign is based on an arched letter ლ (Lasi) of the Georgian script. It is common in international common practice for a currency sign to consist of a letter, crossed by one or two parallel lines. Two parallel lines crossing the letter Lasi are the basic components of the Lari sign. The so-called “leg” of the letter, represented by a horizontal line, is a necessary attribute of the sign, adding monumental stability to the upper dynamic arc. The form of the letter is transformed in order to simplify its perception and implementation as a Lari sign.

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Wikipedia