By the mid fourth-century BC, coins were issued primarily on the islands of Pharos, the island of Issa and in the kingdom of Paeonia. Paeonian and Celtic coins (in Croatia) were succeeded by Roman coins following the annexation of Macedonia in the second century BC, though initially these coins were minted in Rome. After the fall of Rome, Byzantine coins were predominant until the twelfth century when Freisach pfennigs and Venetian denarii began to circulate. In the 1260s, the kings of Serbia began issuing imitations of Venetian grossi.
Serbia fell under Ottoman rule in 1459. Slavonia and northern Yugoslavia remained mostly under Hungarian rule, while Montenegro remained independent. Venice remained an important influence in Dalmatia until 1797 where Venetian coinage made up most of the currency. Ragusa survived as a republic under Turkish protection from 1526 until 1806 using a monetary system similar to that of Venice with 1 ducat equal to 40 grossetti and 240 soldi.
The Principality of Serbia, founded on November 21, 1815, became the Kingdom of Serbia on March 6, 1882. Serbia merged with the other parts of Yugoslavia on December 1, 1918 to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Croatia, Slavonia, and western Banat were annexed from Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon on July 16, 1920, and the country was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on October 3, 1929. On April 17, 1941, Serbia was separated from Croatia to form a separate state under German occupation. After Yugoslavia was liberated from the Nazis in April 1945, the country was reconstituted as the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia On November 29, 1945.
Yugoslavia began to break up in 1991, and on April 27, 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (and later the Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia), which included Serbia and Montenegro, but excluded Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia, was founded. In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro, the two remaining republics of the former Yugoslavia, decided to continue their union until at least 2005 and take on the name of Serbia and Montenegro. The country officially became Serbia and Montenegro on February 4, 2003. Although Kosovo is de jure part of Serbia, it is de facto administered by the United Nations.
Ottoman Empire Piastres were used in Serbia until 1815 when Serbia became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia created the Serbian Dinar, equal in value to the French Franc Germinal, on November 8, 1873. The Dinara was divisible into 100 Paras. The Chartered National Bank of the Kingdom of Serbia was the sole note-issuing authority. Gold coins were issued in 1873, and banknotes were issued in 1884.
Before World War I, the Dinar had been used in Serbia, and the Austrian Kronen had been used in the Austrian parts of Yugsolavia. Yugoslavia eventually adopted the Serbian Dinar as its single currency with 1 Serbian Dinar (YUS) equal to 4 Kronen (YUK). The National Bank, first of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and later of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, issued banknotes between 1920 and 1941. Yugoslavia went on the Gold Standard on June 28, 1931 and then went off the Gold Standard on October 7, 1931.
During World War II, the Serbian Dinar (SRDD) was used in Nazi Serbia, the Kuna in Nazi Croatia (HRC), the Lira (ITL) in Montenegro and Italian-occupied Slovenia, and the Reichsmark (DER) in German occupied Slovenia. The Germans also used Reichskreditkassenschein (XDEK) in occupied Yugoslavia. The Serbian National Bank issued banknotes in Serbia during World War II.
In April 1945, Yugoslavia was liberated, and the Yugoslav Federation Dinar was introduced with official rates of exchange set at 1 Yugoslav Federation Dinar (YUF) equal to 40 Croatian Kuna or 20 Serbian Dinars, and 50 YUF equal to 1 US Dollar.
On January 1, 1966, a Hard Dinar (YUD) replaced the Federation Dinar at the rate of 1 Hard Dinar equal to 100 Federation Dinara. A Convertible Dinar (YUN) was introduced on January 1, 1990 at the rate of 1 Convertible Dinar equal to 10,000 Hard Dinara. ON December 25, 1991, Yugoslavians had to exchange all their old notes at par for new notes to deny value to Yugoslavian notes remaining in Slovenia and Croatia. A Reformed Dinar (YUR) was introduced on July 1, 1992 at the rate of 1 Reformed Dinar equal to 10 New Dinara.
During the 1990s, Yugoslavia created one of the worst hyperinflations in human history. The October Dinar (YUO) replaced the Reformed Dinar on October 1, 1993 and was equal to 1,000,000 Reformed Dinara. On January 1, 1994, the 1994 Dinar (YUG) was first issued on January 1, 1994 and equal to 1,000,000,000 October Dinara. The 1994 Dinar was followed by the New (Super) Dinar on January 24, 1994, which was introduced at par with the German Mark. The Super Dinar was issued separately from the 1994 Dinar and was equal to about 13 million 1994 Dinar by the end of January 1994 before it was declared worthless. Hence it took about 260,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Super Dinars to get 1 Silver Dinar from before World War II. Despite these myriad changes in the currency, the Dinar only became convertible on May 15, 2002.
Montenegro and Kosovo currently have different monetary systems from Serbia. The German Mark was made legal tender in Montenegro in 1999. On November 2, 1999, and the German Mark became legal tender in Kosovo after United Nations troops began occupying Kosovo in 2000. On January 1, 2002, the Euro (EUR) began circulating in both Kosovo and in Montenegro. On February 4, 2003, the parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro voted to change their name from Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro. The ISO codes were changed to CS and SCG for Serbia and Montenegro (Srbija I Crna Gora) and the Serbian Dinar (CSD) replaced the Yugoslav Dinar. |
