National Currency Day is celebrated in Kazakhstan
On November 15, Kazakhstan celebrates the Day of the national currency - tenge, this day is also a professional holiday for employees of the republic's financial system.
On November 12, 1993, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev signed a decree "On the introduction of the national currency of the Republic of Kazakhstan". And since November 15, tenge has become a new unit of account in the country.
The first banknotes were printed in England by Harrison & Sons. They were delivered to Kazakhstan by air - 18 flights were made during the week. Today, thanks to the acquired experience and many years of practice, the Banknote Factory in Almaty has fully established the issue of banknotes on its own printing base that meets all international quality and technology standards.
The decision to introduce its own national currency became the key for the republic's exit from the current crisis situation and the transition to a new stage of economic development. The choice of the name of the national currency caused a lot of controversy: there were options like "altyn", "aksha", "tanga". It was planned to name the Kazakh currency "som" - this is how the Soviet ruble was denoted in Kazakh translation on Soviet banknotes. However, after the introduction of the Kyrgyz som in 1993, Kyrgyzstan adopted a different name - "tenge". This is the historical name of the medieval Turkic silver coins "dengue" or "tanga". The name was suggested by academician Sauk Takezhanov. One hundredfold part was called "tiyn".
The preparation of the tenge design was entrusted to a team of authors consisting of the head Timur Suleimenov and designers Mendybai Alin, Dosbol Kasymov and Agimsaly Duzelkhanov.
Banknotes of Kazakhstan receive high marks at international exhibitions and competitions. There is the International Banknote Society (IBNS) - an independent association of banknote collectors from all over the world, who annually choose the best banknote of the year via internet voting. Community members are experts from over 90 countries. In 2007, the International Monetary Association (IACA) recognized the 10 thousand tenge banknote as the best in the world. The banknote with a face value of 20 thousand tenge also managed to receive an award - at the High Security Printing Europe conference in 2016. It was voted the best regional banknote of 2015. In the same year, IACA recognized her for the best technical achievement in the foreign exchange industry. In addition, since 2000, the Kazakhstan Mint and the National Bank have been participating in international competitions annually, having won 23 awards in various nominations for workmanship, design and technology innovation.
Author: Moldir Adamzhan
Photo: from open sources