The lira (Maltese: lira Maltija, plural: liri, ISO 4217 code : MTL) was the currency of Malta from 1825 until 31 December 2007. The lira was abbreviated as Lm, although the traditional ₤ sign was often used locally. In English, the currency was still frequently called the pound because of the past usage of British currency on the islands.

The euro replaced the Maltese lira as the official currency of Malta on 1 January 2008 at the irrevocable fixed exchange rate of 0.429300 MTL per 1 euro.

In 1825, an imperial order-in-council introduced British currency to Malta, replacing a situation where various coinages circulated, including that issued in Malta by the Knights of St John. The pound was valued at 12 scudi of the local currency. This exchange rate meant that the smallest Maltese coin, the grano, was worth one third of a farthing (1 scudo = 20 tari = 240 grani). Consequently, ¹⁄₃-farthing ( ¹⁄₁₂-penny) coins were issued for use in Malta until 1913, alongside the regular British coinage. Amongst the British colonies which used the sterling coinage, Malta was unique in having the ¹⁄₃-farthing coin.

Between 1914 and 1918, wartime emergency paper money issues were made by the government.

Until 1972, it was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence with 4 farthings to the penny; from May 1972 it was divided into 100 cents, and the 1 cent into 10 mils.

Pre-decimal British sterling coinage continued to circulate in Malta for nearly a year after it was withdrawn in the UK due to decimilization on 15 February 1971. Then in 1972, a new, decimal Maltese currency, the lira, was introduced, in both coin and banknote form. The lira was initially equal to the pound sterling, however this parity did not survive long after the floating of sterling on 22 June 1972.

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