Polish Zloty - PLN

The new Polish zloty (PLN) has been the national currency of Poland since January, 1st 1995, when this currency replaced the former zloty (that dated from 1924 and replaced the “Polish mark”) after the Polish hyperinflation at the beginning of the 90s.

It is on the basis 1 PLN = 10000 PLZ (1 new zloty = 10000 former zlotys) and on an exchange value equal to about 1 PLN = 0.62 DEM (Deusche Mark , the German currency before the Euro) that was instituted the new zloty in 1995.

A member of the European Union since 2004, Poland doesn’t have dispensations (“option out” clauses) to the Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice Treaties in relation to the adoption of the euro (unlike Denmark and the United Kingdom, negotiators and signatories of these Treaties that obtained dispensations).

At the end, the euro will be adopted by Poland, but the Polish zloty is still out of the European convergence system (of public finances and exchange rates) called « ERM II » (Exchange Rate Mechanism II).

Internal political divergences delayed the adoption of the euro in Poland, even if a referendum about i twill take place in 2010.

The adoption of the ERM II system is necessary during two years before joining the Euro area, Poland will not likely enter the Euro area before 2014.

From 2001 to February 2004, the Polish zloty lost ground against the Euro ( EUR/PLN = 4.9346 in February 2004), before we observed on the Forex a continuous increase of the zloty until the end of July 2008 (EUR/PLN = 3.2053 on July, 28th 2008).

The Euro quickly increases in value in the context of the financial and stock-exchange crisis during the Fall of 2008 (EUR/PLN = 4.80 in February 2009), then a clear adjustment intervenes that takes the zloty back to the same exchange value as when Euro was introduced, in 1999 (EUR/PLN = 4.2014 in October 2009).