Revaluation of The Turkish Lira - History

History

Because of the chronic inflation experienced in Turkey from the 1970s through to the 1990s, the old lira experienced severe depreciation in value. Turkey has had high inflation rates compared to developed countries but has never suffered hyperinflation. From an average of 9 lira per U.S. dollar in the late 1960s, the currency came to trade at approximately 1.65 new lira per U.S. dollar in late 2001. This represented an average inflation of about 38% per year. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had called this problem a "national shame". With the revaluation of the Turkish old lira, the Romanian leu (also revalued in July 2005) briefly became the world's least valued currency unit.

• 1966 — 1 U.S. dollar = 9 lira (TL)
• 1980 — 1 U.S. dollar = 0.0001 lira (YTL)
• 1988 — 1 U.S. dollar = 0.0013 lira (YTL)
• 1995 — 1 U.S. dollar = 0.045 lira (YTL)
• 1996 — 1 U.S. dollar = 0.107 lira (YTL)
• 2001 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.65 lira (YTL)
• 2004 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.35 lira (YTL)
• 25 July 2008 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.21 lira (YTL)
• 6 November 2008 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.6 lira (YTL)
• 18 July 2012 — 1 U.S. dollar = 1.81 lira (YTL)

In late December 2003, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey passed a law that allowed for the removal of six zeroes from the currency, and the creation of the new lira. It was introduced on 1 January 2005, replacing the previous lira (which remained valid in circulation until the end of 2005) at a rate of 1 new lira = 1,000,000 old lira.

The official name of the currency is "New Turkish Lira". According to the Central Bank, the word "new" (yeni) is only a "temporary" measure. A news agency reported that "new" will be removed on January 1, 2009. The same source also indicated that the banknotes will have "different shapes and sizes to prevent forgery". The issuance of a new highest denomination, 200 lira, is contemplated at the same time.