The Polish złoty

Who holds the right to issue it

Narodowy Bank Polski was formed on 15 January 1945 as a state bank supervised by the treasury minister. The constitution of 1997 moved monetary policy to a new body inside it, the Monetary Policy Council. Under Articles 31 to 33 of the Act of 29 August 1997 on Narodowy Bank Polski, notes and coins it issues in złoty and grosz are legal tender in Poland, and ordinances of the bank's governor fix their designs, their values and, for coins, the alloy and weight.

Two Warsaw firms make them. The Polish Security Printing Works was founded on 25 January 1919, and the mint, Mennica Polska, on 10 February 1766.

How the złoty replaced the Polish mark

The restored Polish state took over the German occupation's issuing office at the end of 1918, and its Polish marks became temporary legal tender. In February 1919 the government announced a return to the złoty. Budget deficits were covered by printing money, and by mid-1923 inflation had turned into hyperinflation.

The Sejm passed a currency reform act on 11 January 1924. A statute of 20 January gave a new Bank of Poland the sole right to issue notes, set up as a private joint stock company in which the treasury held 1% of the shares, to protect its independence. The bank opened on 28 April 1924 and exchanged marks at 1,800,000 to the złoty, which stood at par with the gold franc. A poor harvest in 1924 and a balance of payments crisis in 1925 knocked it back. An international loan steadied the rate in 1927.

Where the name comes from

Złoty is the Polish adjective for golden, from złoto, gold. In the 14th and 15th centuries Poles used the word for foreign gold coins, Venetian ducats and florins among them. In 1496 the Sejm approved a domestic złoty, until then a unit of account, worth 30 grosz, and that division lasted into the 19th century. Under the partitions the name survived in daily reckoning; Narodowy Bank Polski notes that a złoty counted as 15 kopecks.

Why four zeroes were crossed out

After the war a third złoty, introduced in 1950, replaced earlier notes at 100 to one. In the planned economy the bank became a monobank and the złoty an internal currency that could not be converted. Reform began at the end of the 1980s. In the early 1990s foreign currency made up 75% of cash and deposits, according to the bank, and the proportion was reversed quickly.

The redenomination took effect on 1 January 1995, at 10,000 old złoty (PLZ) to one new złoty (PLN). Poles remember it as the crossing out of four zeroes. The bank's project was approved on 11 May 1994 and the enabling act passed on 7 July 1994.

What the notes carry

The Polish rulers series opened with the 10, 20 and 50 złoty on 1 January 1995, and the 100 and 200 followed on 1 June. De La Rue printed the first notes in London until 1997, when printing moved to Warsaw. The series gained new security features in 2014 and 2016 and a protective coating from 2017, and a 500 złoty note showing John III Sobieski has circulated since 10 February 2017. Every note issued since 1 January 1995 remains legal tender. A 1,000 złoty note was announced in 2021 and dropped in 2024.

When Poland could switch to the euro

Joining the European Union in May 2004 committed Poland to adopting the euro eventually, with no date attached and only once it meets the stability criteria. Poland is outside the ERM II exchange rate mechanism. Changing currency would require amending Article 227 of the constitution, and at the start of 2026 Poland had not begun the process.