Facelift continues for the hryvnia

Before the end of the year, the NBU will renew the design of all low-value banknotes

On June 14, the National Bank of Ukraine will introduce into circulation a brand new Hr 5.00 banknote. According to NBU Govenor Serhiy Tihipko, it will be circulating together at first with older 5-hryvnia banknotes. It is presupposed that the newly designed banknotes will fill the pockets of Ukrainians closer to the end of 2004. By that time, they will amount to 70-90% of all 5-hryvnia banknotes in circulation.

As for the future, the NBU has plans to come up with new outer appearances for the remainder of the Ukrainian legal tender. In August 2004, the NBU is planning to introduce new banknotes for 2-hryvnia notes and at the end of the year it will issue brand new one-hryvnia and 10-hryvnia notes. Only the outer looks of 100- and 200- hryvnia notes will not be altered this year. According to Tihipko, the NBU has large reserves of these particular banknotes, so their external appearance will not change until 2006.

At the same time, the NBU intends to increase the quantity of newly designed Hr 50 and Hr 20 banknotes in circulation. So far, their use has slowed down a bit. As of April I, over 50 million newly designed Hr 20 banknotes have been in circulation. Totalling over Hr I bIn, which is 22% of the total amount of banknotes of this value in circulation. The amount of new 50 Hr notes, which were just recently introduced into circulation, is so far only 6 million units.

The idea of refreshing the outer appearance of the Ukrainian hryvnia the NBU explains as natural servicing of money circulation in the country. «Every banknote by definition cannot be in circulation for over five years. The current hryvnias were issued back in 1996. The banknotes simply wear out and need to be replaced. After the NBU opened its own mint we don't have to order the printing of money in Malta as it was earlier done, » emphasized the NBU governor.

KW BACKGROUND INFO

The new 5-hryvnia banknote is printed on a specially rendered paper with a blue tone and is smaller than the one presently in circulation. On its front there is a portrait of Bohdan Khmelnytskiy on the left-hand side. In the centre on the back, there is a church from the village of Subbotiv printed in a brown colour. The serial number is printed twice horizontally – in the bottom left corner in red and in the top-right corner in black. The banknote contains a multi-colour watermark, a light element watermark, a dual-colour watermark, and a protective strip and fibres.

Exercise 1. Find in the text English equivalents to the following words and expressions.

1. грошові знаки, які мають 7. одиниця

невисоку вартість 8. пускати в обіг (гроші, тощо)

2. обіг 9. зношуватися

3. новісінький, найновіший 10. монетний двір

4. законний платіжний засіб 11. водяний знак

5. змінювати 12. волокна

6. сповільнюватися

Exercise 2. Translate the following words and expressions into Ukrainian.

Protective elements

1. Watermark 10. Visible security fibres

2. Security thread 11. Invisible security fibres

3. Relief elements 12. Fluorescent number

4. Corresponding pattern 13. Magnetic number

5. Printing with iris effects 14. Latent denomination

6. Antiscanner grid 15. Fluorescent elements

7. Latent image 16. High printing

8. Microtext 17. Orloff printing

9. Sign for the blind

• Can you find these elements on a five-hryvnia note?

• Why there is a need in protective elements?

• In what other ways do governments protect their own currencies?

• What can you tell about the British /US currency?

• What do you know about the Euro?

• Why there is a need in currency exchange? Where can you exchange currencies? What is the currency exchange rate? How is it determined?

• What currencies are considered hard/soft? What about hryvnia?

Exercise 3. Complete the Currencies crossword.

1. 1					C
   			2		U
   			3		R
   				4	R
   5					E
   		6			N
   		7			C
   				8	Y

   the opposite of surplus

2. the money used in Indonesia

3. the money used in Brazil

4. the money used in Malaysia

5. another way of saying currency, legal_______.

6. the money used in South Korea

7. foreign _______; the activity of buying and selling currencies

8. the currency used in China