Egyptian pound
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| Egyptian pound جنيه مصري (Arabic) | |||||
| |||||
| ISO 4217 Code | EGP | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| User(s) | Egypt | ||||
| Inflation | 6.5% | ||||
| Source | The World Factbook, 2006 est. | ||||
| Subunit | |||||
| 1/100 | piastre | ||||
| 1/1000 | millieme | ||||
| Symbol | £, LE, or ج.م | ||||
| piastre | Pt. | ||||
| Coins | 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 piasters, 1 pound | ||||
| Banknotes | 5, 10, 25, 50 piastres 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 pounds [1] | ||||
| Central bank | Central Bank of Egypt | ||||
| Website | www.cbe.org.eg | ||||
The Egyptian pound, known in Egyptian Arabic as the gineih[2] (el-Gineih el-Maṣrī الجنيه المصرى) is the currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 irsh[3] (قرش) (piastres), or 1000 malleem (مليم) (milliemes).
The ISO 4217 code is EGP. Locally, the abbreviation LE or L.E., which stands for livre égyptienne (French for Egyptian pound) is frequently used. E£ and £E are also much less-frequently used. Locally in Arabic,.ج.م is used as an abbreviation for el-Gineih el-Maṣrī. The Egyptian Arabic name, gineih, may be related to the English name guinea.
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1834, a Royal Decree promulgating a Parliamentary Bill was issued providing for the issuing of an Egyptian currency based on a bimetallic base. In 1836 the Egyptian pound was minted and put into circulation.
The pound was originally divided into 100 piastres, each of 40 para. In 1885, the para ceased to be issued and the piastre was divided into tenths (عشرالقرش oshr el-irsh). These tenths were renamed milliemes in 1916.
The legal exchange rates were fixed by force of law for important foreign currencies which became acceptable in the settlement of internal transactions. Eventually this led to Egypt using a de facto gold standard. (1885-1914)
The National Bank of Egypt issued banknotes for the first time on 3 April 1899. The Central Bank of Egypt and the National Bank of Egypt were unified into the Central Bank of Egypt.
[edit] Coins
[edit] Historic coinage
Coins were minted in copper for millemes, silver 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 piastres, and gold 25 and 50 piastres, 1, 2 and 5 pounds.
During the Republican era, silver coins for 5, 10 and 20 piastres were in common circulation before switching to cupro-nickel in 1967. Commemorative 25 and 50 piastres, 1 and 5 pounds, and numeorus gold commemoratives have been issued on a regular basis.
[edit] Current coinage
Coins, even for the smallest amounts, are encountered much less frequently than notes but 5, 10, 20, and 25 piastres coins remain legal currency. The most recent 25 piastre coin is holed.
During late spring in 2005, plans were announced to introduce a new 200 pounds note and coins for 50 piastres and 1 pound due to high cumulative inflation.
On June 1, 2006, 50 piastres and 1 pound coins were introduced, with the equivalent banknotes to be scrapped later. The coins bear the faces of Cleopatra VII and Tutankhamun, and the 1 pound coin is bimetallic. Their availabilities are expected to gradually increase in the coming months.
[edit] Banknotes
Banknotes worth 5, 10, 25, 50 piastres, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 pounds are currently in circulation. Notes of 25 piastres and above are issued by the Central Bank of Egypt, while 5 and 10 piastres are issued by the Ministry of Finance. The Central Bank website put the two lower valued notes under the category "coins" instead of "banknotes". All Egyptian banknotes are bilingual, with Arabic texts and Eastern Arabic numerals on the obverse and English and Hindu Arabic numerals on the reverse. Obverse designs tend to feature an Islamic building with reverse designs featuring an Ancient Egyptian building. During December 2006, it was mentioned in articles in Al Ahram and Al Akhbar newspapers that there were plans to introduce a 200 and 500 pounds notes. As for 2007, there are 200 pounds notes circulating in Egypt and subsequently 500 pound notes will circulate. The purpose of introducing bigger bankntes is to facilitate money transactions due that as inflation is increasing more notes will take a person to carry.[citation needed]
[edit] Popular denominations and nomenclature
Several non-official popular names are used to refer to different values of Egyptian currency. These include Bariza /bariːza/, Ta'rifa /taʕriːfa/...etc. Different sums of EGP have special nicknames for example 1,000,000 EGP is nicknamed arnab /arnab/ which means rabbit.
[edit] Historical exchange rates
[edit] Pound Sterling
This table shows the historical value of one pound sterling in Egyptian pounds:
| Date | Official Rate |
|---|---|
| 1885 to 1949 | EGP 0.97 |
[edit] US Dollar
This table shows the historical value of one U.S. dollar in Egyptian pounds:
| Date | Official Rate | Date | Official Rate | Date | Official Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 to 1939 | EGP 0.20 | 1940 to 1949 | EGP 0.25 | 1950 to 1967 | EGP 0.36 |
| 1968 to 1978 | EGP 0.40 | 1979 to 1988 | EGP 0.60 | 1989 | EGP 0.83 |
| 1990 | EGP 1.50 | 1991 | EGP 3.00 | 1992 | EGP 3.33 |
| 1993 to 1998 | EGP 3.39 | 1999 | EGP 3.40 | 2000 | EGP 3.42 to EGP 3.75 |
| 2001 | EGP 3.75 to EGP 4.50 | 2002 | EGP 4.50 to EGP 4.62 | 2003 | EGP 4.82 to EGP 6.13 |
| 2004 | EGP 6.13 to EGP 6.28 | 2005 to 2006 | EGP 5.75 | 2007 | EGP 5.64 |
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Don's World Coin Gallery - Egypt
- Ron Wise's World Paper Money - Egypt Mirror site
- Tables of Modern Monetary Systems by Kurt Schuler - Egypt Mirror site
- The Global History of Currencies - Egypt
- Global Financial Data data series - Egypt Pound
- Global Financial Data currency histories table (Image:Crystal 128 kspread.png Microsoft Excel format)
- History of the Egyptian pound
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