When Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union, it substituted the Soviet ruble with the manat, which also went through a period of high inflation in the first years, rendering the coinage obsolete. The current manat in circulation has existed since theredenomination in 2006, when old manats (AZM) were substituted with lower face values and new design. The currency has mostly been pegged to theUS dollar, at what is now the rate of ₼1.70 to US$1.
The Azerbaijani manatsymbol was added toUnicode asU+20BC₼MANAT SIGN in 2013. A lowercasem was used previously, and may still be encountered when the manat symbol is unavailable.
The word"manat" is derived from the Latin word"monēta" and the Russian word"монета" ("moneta") meaning "coin".[2] It was used as the name of theSoviet currency in Azeri (Azerbaijani:манат) and inTurkmen.
The Democratic Republic issued notes in denominations of 25, 50, 100, 250, and 500 manats, whilst the Soviet Socialist Republic issued notes in denominations of 5, 100, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, 1 million, and 5 million manats.
The second manat was introduced on 15 August 1992.[3] It had theISO 4217 code AZM and replaced theRussian ruble which itself replaced theSoviet ruble at a rate of RUR 10 to 1 manat.[1]
From early 2002 to early 2005, the exchange rate was fairly stable (varying within a band of 4,770–4,990 manats perUS dollar). Starting in the spring of 2005 there was a slight but steady increase in the value of the manat against the US dollar; the reason most likely being the increased flow ofpetrodollars into the country, together with the generally highprice of oil on the world market. At the end of 2005, one dollar was worth 4,591 manats. Banknotes below 100 manats had effectively disappeared by 2005, as had the gapik coins.
Coins were issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50 gapiks, dated 1992 and 1993. Althoughbrass andcupronickel were used for some of the 1992 issues, later issues were all inaluminium. These coins were rarely used in circulation.
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 toinflation, were reintroduced with the re-denomination. The former manat (ISO code 4217 AZM) remained in use through to 31 December 2006.[4]
The new banknotes and Azerbaijani manat symbol, ₼, were designed byRobert Kalina in 2006, and the symbol was added toUnicode (U+20BC) in 2013, after failed addition proposals between 2008 and 2011.[5] The final Azerbaijani Manat symbol design was inspired by the design of theEuro sign (€), based on an initial proposal by Mykyta Yevstifeyev,[6] 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.
The new manat was initially assigned the code AYM on being added to theISO 4217 standard on 1 June 2005, with an effective date of 1 January 2006.[7] 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 theISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the relevant country).[8]
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 thebimetallic 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 in circulation are ₼1, ₼5, ₼10, ₼20, ₼50, ₼100, ₼200, and ₼500. They were designed byAustrian banknote designerRobert Kalina, who also designed the current banknotes of theeuro and theSyrian 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.[9] In February 2013, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan announced it would not introduce higher denomination notes until at least 2014.[10]
In 2018, a ₼200 banknote was issued to commemorate Heydar Aliyev's 95th birthday.[11]
Redesigned ₼1, ₼5, and ₼50 banknotes were introduced in 2021, preserving the same motifs but with updated designs.[12] These circulate in parallel with existing notes.
A new commemorative ₼500 banknote was introduced in 2021.[13]
Writers, poets, and books from Azerbaijan, with a written excerpt of thenational anthem (Namusunu hifz etmeyə, Bayrağını yükseltməyə, Çümlə gənclər müştaqdır! Şanlı Vətən! Şanlı Vətən! Azərbaycan! Azərbaycan!) and letters from the contemporaryAzerbaijani alphabet (ə, ö, ğ, ş)