Forint

Forint
front \	back
1 forint (2002)
100 forint (1997)

Forint, or HUF (Hungarian forint) is the official Currency of Hungary. It was introduced on 1 August 1946, after the 1945-1946 Hyperinflation of pengő. The process was managed by the hungarian communist party, which held the relevant ministry seats and the forint's success was exploited for political gains, contributing to the 1948-49 communist take-over of state powers.

The Forint's name comes from the city of Florence, where golden money was minted from 1252 under the name fiorino d'oro. In Hungary, florentinus (later forint), also a gold-based currency, was used from 1325 under Charles Robert and several other countries followed its example, see Guilder for this currency throughout Europe. Between 1857 and 1892, the forint was the name used in Hungarian for the currency of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, known in German as the Gulden or Florin. It was subdivided into 100 Krajczar.

Historically the forint was made up of 100 fillér, but fillér have been rendered useless by inflation and have not been in circulation since 1999. The Hungarian abbreviation for Forint is Ft.

After its 1946 introduction, the Forint remained stable for several years, but started to lose its purchasing power as the state-socialist economic system lost its competitiveness during the 1970's and 1980's. After the democratic change of 1989-90, the Forint saw yearly inflation figures of app. 35% for three years, but significant market economy reforms helped stabilize it. Since year 2000 the relatively high value of Forint (especially compared to the falling US Dollar and to some extent to the Euro) handicaps the strongly export-oriented hungarian industry against foreign competitors with lower valued currencies.

As part of Hungary's integration into the European Union and its Euro currency system, the Forint is slated to disappear circa 2010-2012, depending on the economic situation. As of autumn 2005, there is a strong disagreement between the Hungarian National Bank and the government whether EU mandated low inflation figures and reduced foreign debt aims can be fulfilled by 2010. The situation threatens to make Hungary the last one among the ten new EU members to adopt the Euro currency.

Coins in circulation

• 1 forint (bronze colour, face depicts the hungarian Coat of Arms)
• 2 forint (silvery metal, face depicts a lotus flower)
• 5 forint (bronze colour, face depicts an Egret crane bird)
• 10 forint (silvery metal, face depicts the hungarian Coat of Arms)
• 20 forint (bronze colour, face depicts a water lilly flower)
• 50 forint (silvery metal, face depicts a sitting Falcon bird)
• 100 forint (silvery metal with copper disc insert, face depicts the hungarian Coat of Arms))

Banknotes in circulation

All of the banknotes are watermarked, contain an embedded vertical security strip of thin metal and suitable for the visually impaired people. The 2000 forint and higher denominations are also protected by an interwoven holographic security strip.

• 200 forint (greenish white, face depicts king Charles Robert)
• 500 forint (reddish blueish pink, face depicts palatine-count Ferenc II Rákóczi)
• 1,000 forint (blueish white, face depicts King Matthias Corvinus)
• 2,000 forint (brownish, face depicts Count Gábor Bethlen)
• 5,000 forint (greenish blue, face depicts the industrialist Count István Széchenyi)
• 10,000 forint (blueish white, face depicts Hungary's founding King, Stephen I)
• 20,000 forint (reddish, face depicts the mid-19th century politician Ferenc Deák)

Forgery of Forint is not significant, but sometimes colour photo-copiers are abused by teenagers to produce low quality fake money for shopping and gambling purposes. For foreign visitors to Hungary, the main danger lies in exchanging their Forints to international currencies. Fake dollars and euro banknotes are commonly disseminated by illegal street money exchangers. Legal currency exchange is only available in licenced booths, which always operate under the consortium of some Commercial bank and always provide a Paper trail of the transaction. Photo ID papers may be required for legal exchange of Forints to/from foreign currencies. An alternative is to use internationally known credit cards for payments in Hungary.