Slovak euro coins

The Slovak euro coins are the European monetary union euro coins issued by Slovakia since 2009. They feature three separate designs for the three series of coins.

Slovak euro coins starting set

Slovakia has been a member of the European Union since May 2004, and is a member of the European Economic and Monetary Union. Slovakia adopted the euro on 1 January 2009, replacing its previous currency, the Slovak koruna.

Adopting the euro

In 2005, an official public contest for Slovak euro coin designs was held, which took place over two rounds. The deadline for the first round was 31 January 2005, after which the ten top designers chosen by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) were invited to make plaster reliefs of their designs. In the second round, the NBS called a public vote conducted from 12 November until 20 November 2005 on the ten designs that were picked from the over 200 submissions.[1] On 21 November 2005, the results were made public; the most popular design was the coat of arms of Slovakia.[2][3] On 20 December 2005, the design for the Slovak euro coins was officially made public on the NBS website.[4] Since then Slovakia has been doing economic reforms to be able to adopt the euro.

After three years of reforms, on 1 April 2008, the NBS announced their plan for withdrawal, disposal and destruction of the Slovak koruna notes and coins.[5] On 7 May 2008, the European Commission approved the application and asked member states to endorse the bid during the EU finance minister's meeting in July 2008.[6][7] Slovakia's 12-month inflation was 2.2% compared with 3.2% that is required. Annual inflation however was 3.6% for March 2008. Fiscal deficit was 2.2% versus the reference value of 3.0%. And finally the government debt ratio was 29.4% of GDP in 2007, well below the maximum ratio of 60.0%.[8]

On 3 June 2008, the European Union finance ministers gave Slovakia the green light to join the euro zone in 2009 while urging the country to be ready to fight inflation with tight fiscal policies. "We are happy to see Slovakia join the euro zone on January 1, 2009," Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, told reporters.[9]

Slovakia's mint has been tasked to produce some 500 million euro and cent coins.[9] As a preparation for the change on 1 January, starting from November 2008, these coins will be distributed to businesses all over Slovakia.[10]

On 17 June 2008, the European Parliament agreed to Slovakia's bid to join the euro zone from the start of 2009, urging the country to tighten fiscal policies to avoid inflationary risks. The assembly voted 589 to 17 with 86 abstentions to approve a report that said the European Union newcomer met all euro entry criteria. However, the parliament's role is consultative only. Slovakia's bid to become the euro zone's 16th member was approved by EU leaders. EU finance ministers set the final conversion rate of the Slovak koruna into the euro on 8 July 2008.[11][12]

On 19 June 2008, the leaders of the EU Member States confirmed Slovakia's readiness to join the eurozone on 1 January 2009. “I congratulate Slovakia for meeting all the relevant criteria,” said the current President of the European Council and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša.[13]

On 8 July 2008, the European Union formally invited Slovakia to join the European single currency and set the official rate at which korunas will be exchanged for euros – 30.1260 korunas to the euro.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

On 5 September 2008, as part of the preparations for euro adoption, the NBS announced that by the end the year Slovakia planned to transport over €7 billion in banknotes from Austria and to mint coins worth €167 million to pre-stock itself with the new currency.[20] Start-up packages containing the EUR equivalent of 500 Sk (16.60 €) were sold at all post offices from 1 December 2008. The package contained 45 Slovak euro coins with nominal values from 1-cent (0.30 Sk) to 2 euro (60.25 Sk).[21]

A few days before the €-day, the government spent €6.5 million to educate the public about the new currency.[22]

Slovak euro design

For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins.

Depiction of Slovak euro coinage | Obverse side
€0.01 €0.02 €0.05
Kriváň, a symbolic mountain in the High Tatras as designed by Drahomír Zobek.
€0.10 €0.20 €0.50
Bratislava Castle as designed by Ján Černaj and Pavol Károly.
€1.00 €2.00 €2 Coin Edge
The Coat of arms of Slovakia, the Double Cross on Three Hills, as designed by Ivan Řehák.

Circulating mintage quantities
Face Value[23] €0.01 €0.02 €0.05 €0.10 €0.20 €0.50 €1.00 €2.00
2009 85,040,000 74,220,000 77,950,000 67,980,000 63,360,000 54,020,000 42,730,000 35,030,000
2010 30,000,000 50,000,000 *** *** *** *** *** ***
2011 20,400,000 15,000,000 *** *** *** *** *** 5,000,000
2012 10,500,000 *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
2013 26,030,000 *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
2014

* No coins were minted that year for that denomination
** Data not available yet
*** Small quantities minted for sets only

Identifying marks
Main article: Identifying marks on euro coins
National Identifier "SLOVENSKO"
Mint Mark
Engravers Initials 1,2, 5-cent Z

10, 20, 50-cent JČ (stylised) and 'PK' (stylised)

1, 2 euro IŘ (stylised)

€2 Edge inscription

References
  1. The top ten designs, National Bank of Slovakia. Archived 17 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Statement from the 57th Meeting of the Bank Board of the NBS." National Bank of Slovakia, 20 Dec. 2005. Archived 23 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Martina Jurinová (22 November 2005). "Public decide on motif for euro coins". The Slovak Spectator. Archived from the original on 28 February 2007.
  4. "Slovenské strany eurových mincí." National Bank of Slovakia. Archived 24 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "NBS Preparing to Withdraw and Destroy Koruna Notes and Coins". Archived from the original on 4 April 2008.
  6. "Slovakia Secures Commission Approval for Euro Entry". Bloomberg. 7 May 2008.
  7. "Slovakia won EU and ECB backing to adopt euro". Archived from the original on 11 February 2016.
  8. "ECB Press Release of May 7, 2008".
  9. "EU ministers agree to let Slovakia into euro zone". Archived from the original on 23 May 2011.
  10. "Banks will start delivering euro cash to their clients in November". Archived from the original on 5 June 2008.
  11. "The Guardian UK – EU Parliament backs Slovakia's euro entry from 2009". London. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016.
  12. "European Parliament – Parliament backs Slovakia's euro area membership".
  13. "Slovenian Presidency web site – EU leaders approve Slovakia's bid to join the eurozone".
  14. "Slovak euro exchange rate is set". BBC. 8 July 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  15. "EU grants final approval for Slovakia to adopt the euro, conversion rate set at central parity". Hungary Online Financial Journal. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  16. "Slovakia to Adopt Euro Next Year". WSJ. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  17. "Slovakia to Adopt Euro with Conversion Rate 30.126 SKK/EUR". Slovakia Today. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
  18. "Slovakia gets final EU greenlight to adopt euro". Macau Daily Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
  19. "EU admits Slovakia to euro zone". Forbes. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  20. "Slovakia to Prestock itself with Euros". News Agency of the Slovak Republic. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  21. "Slovakia preparing to adopt the euro". eTrend. Archived from the original on 18 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  22. "Ahead of switch to euro, Slovakia turns up public education". EUBusiness. Archived from the original on 18 December 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  23. "Circulating Mintage quantities". Henning Agt. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.