On 1 January 2006, a new manat (ISO 4217 code AZN, also called the "manat (national currency)") was introduced at a ratio of 1 new manat to 5,000 old manats. From 1 October 2005, prices were indicated both in new manats and in old manats to ease the transition. Coins denominated in qəpik, which had not been used from 1993 onward due to
inflation, were reintroduced with the re-denomination. The former manat (ISO code 4217 AZM) remained in use through to 31 December 2006.
Symbol The new banknotes and Azerbaijani manat symbol, ₼, were designed by
Robert Kalina in 2006, and the symbol was added to
Unicode (U+20BC) in 2013, after failed addition proposals between 2008 and 2011. The final Azerbaijani Manat symbol design was inspired by the design of the
Euro sign (€), based on an initial proposal by Mykyta Yevstifeyev, and resembles a single-bar Euro sign rotated 90° clockwise. The manat symbol is displayed to the right of the amount in Azeri and Turkmen.
Code The new manat was initially assigned the code AYM on being added to the
ISO 4217 standard on 1 June 2005, with an effective date of 1 January 2006. However, this was removed and replaced by AZN on 13 October 2005 as it did not comply with the ISO 4217 currency coding standardization rules (which state that currency codes must begin with the
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the relevant country).
Coins Coins in circulation are 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 50 gapiks. Most coins closely resemble the size and shape of various euro coins. Most notably the
bimetallic 50 gapik (similar to the
€2 coin) and the 10 gapik (Spanish flower, like the 20 euro cent coin). Coins were first put into circulation during January 2006 and do not feature a mint year.
Banknotes Banknotes in circulation are ₼1, ₼5, ₼10, ₼20, ₼50, ₼100, ₼200, and ₼500. They were designed by
Austrian banknote designer
Robert Kalina, who also designed the current banknotes of the
euro and the
Syrian pound. The notes look quite similar to those of the euro, and the choice of motifs was inspired by the euro banknotes. In 2009, the Azərbaycan Milli Bankı (National Bank of Azerbaijan) was renamed the Azərbaycan Respublikasının Mərkəzi Bankı (Central Bank of Azerbaijan). In 2010, the ₼1 banknote was issued with the new name of the issuing bank, in 2012 a ₼5 banknote was issued with the new name of the issuing bank and in 2017 a 100₼ banknote dated 2013 was issued with the new name of the issuing bank. In 2011 Azerbaijan's Ministry of Finance announced it was considering issuing notes of ₼2 and ₼3 as well as notes with values higher than ₼100. In February 2013, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan announced it would not introduce higher denomination notes until at least 2014. In 2018, a ₼200 banknote was issued to commemorate Heydar Aliyev's 95th birthday. Redesigned ₼1, ₼5, and ₼50 banknotes were introduced in 2021, preserving the same motifs but with updated designs. These circulate in parallel with existing notes. A new commemorative ₼500 banknote was introduced in 2021.
2005 series 2020 refurbishment Exchange rates • Before Feb 2015: US$1 = ₼0.78 • Feb - Dec 2015: US$1 = ₼1.05 • Dec 2015 - Apr 2017:
Floating exchange rate against the US$ • May 2017 onwards: US$1 = ₼1.7 (
fixed) == See also ==