The Azerbaijani manat
Currency · AZN · ₼ · 1 country
A presidential decree of 7 February 2005 cut the manat's face value, and from 1 January 2006 the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan swapped one new manat for 5,000 old ones. The current manat is the third currency of that name in Azerbaijan. It divides into 100 gapiks and has carried its own sign, ₼, since 2006.
The sign
Robert Kalina designed the ₼ in 2006 with the new notes. It takes after the euro sign with a single bar, turned 90 degrees clockwise. Unicode added it as U+20BC in 2013, after proposals failed from 2008 to 2011. Azerbaijani writing puts it after the amount, and a lowercase m fills in where fonts lack it.
- ISO code
- AZN
- ISO number
- 944
- Subunit
- gapik, 1/100
An amount, written out
₼1,234.50
- ₼1,234.50English
- 1.234,50 ₼AzerbaijaniAzerbaijan
In English the sign comes before the amount. Where the Azerbaijani manat is used, it comes after the amount in Azerbaijan.
The sign in code
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UTF-8
- HTML
₼₼- CSS
content: "\20BC";- JavaScript
"\u20BC"- UTF-8
0xE2 0x82 0xBC- UTF-16
0x20BC- UTF-32
0x000020BC
Where the Azerbaijani manat is the official currency
Azerbaijan uses it on its own, in seven banknotes from 1 to 200 manat and six coins counted in gapiks.
About the Azerbaijani manat
Who puts the manat into circulation
The Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan issues the currency under the 2005 decree on the nominal value of monetary units. Its denomination structure runs to seven banknotes, of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 manat, and six coins, of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 50 gapiks.
The bank describes the notes' security in four levels. The public can check the first with the naked eye, and traders can check the second with a magnifier and ultraviolet light. Only the central bank can identify the fourth. The coins carry a security feature on the edge, alongside ultrafine elements and a set diameter, weight and metal composition.
Where the word manat comes from
The name derives from the Latin monēta and the Russian moneta, both meaning coin. In Azerbaijani it was also the name of the Soviet currency.
Azerbaijan's own manat appeared twice before the present one. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and then the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic issued it from 1919 to 1923, as banknotes only and with no subdivision. In Russian the same notes were called rubles. The Soviet ruble followed. The second manat, coded AZM, arrived on 15 August 1992 and replaced the Russian ruble at ten rubles to the manat.
How the second manat gave way
High inflation in the years after independence made the second manat's coinage obsolete. Coins of 5 to 50 gapiks dated 1992 and 1993 were rarely used, and by 2005 the notes below 100 manat had effectively disappeared as well.
Prices were shown in both old and new manat from 1 October 2005, three months before the switch. The old notes stayed usable until 31 December 2006. The ISO list first gave the new manat the code AYM, on 1 June 2005, and replaced it with AZN on 13 October that year because a currency code must begin with the country's two-letter code.
Who designed the notes and the coins
The Austrian designer Robert Kalina drew the 2006 notes, and they borrow the look and the choice of motifs of the euro notes he also designed. The 1 manat carries folk instruments, the tar and the kamancheh among them. The 10 shows old Baku with the Maiden Tower. All the notes stand 70 mm tall and grow in width with their value, from 120 mm for the 1 to 160 mm for the 200.
The coins follow euro coins in size and shape: the bimetallic 50 gapik matches the €2 coin, and the 10 gapik has the scalloped Spanish flower edge of the 20-cent piece. None of them carries a mint year.
The 200-manat note joined the set in 2018, with raised elements at each end for readers with poor sight. Redesigned 1, 5 and 50-manat notes came out in 2021 and circulate beside the older ones, and the same year brought a commemorative 500.
How the tie to the dollar has shifted
The manat has mostly been pegged to the US dollar. The rate was reset in February 2015, the currency floated from December 2015 to April 2017, and it has been fixed again since May 2017.
Common questions
Questions about the Azerbaijani manat
What does the ₼ symbol on Azerbaijani money mean?
It is the manat sign. Robert Kalina, who designed the 2006 banknotes, drew it the same year, basing it on the euro sign with one bar instead of two and rotating it 90 degrees clockwise. It entered Unicode as U+20BC MANAT SIGN in 2013. Before that, and in fonts that still lack it, amounts were written with a lowercase m. In Azerbaijani and Turkmen the sign follows the number.
Why was the Azerbaijani manat redenominated in 2006?
The second manat, introduced in 1992, lost much of its value in its first years: the gapik coins fell out of use, and by 2005 notes under 100 manat had effectively disappeared from circulation. A presidential decree of 7 February 2005 set a new manat worth 5,000 of the old. Prices appeared in both units from 1 October 2005 to ease the change, the new notes and coins went into circulation on 1 January 2006, and the old manat remained usable until 31 December 2006. Gapik coins came back with the new currency.
Is AZM the same currency as AZN?
No. AZM was the code of the second manat, used from 1992 to 2006. AZN belongs to the new manat of 2006, worth 5,000 old ones. The new currency was briefly listed as AYM in 2005 before ISO changed the code to match Azerbaijan's country code.
Why do Azerbaijani coins look like euro coins?
Most of the 2006 coins follow euro coins in size and shape. The bimetallic 50 gapik resembles the €2 coin, and the 10 gapik copies the Spanish flower outline of the 20 euro cent. The banknotes share the resemblance, because Robert Kalina, who designed the euro notes, designed these too.