Money matters student

 Currencies – Czech koruna, euro

Vocabulary
currency

měna

single currency

jednotná měna

division

rozdělení

denomination

hodnota mince/ bankovky

renowned

slavný, proslulý, uznávaný

circulation

oběh

printing technique

tiskařská technika/postup

prevent

zabránit

forgery

padělání

watermark

vodoznak

protective elements

ochranné prvky

mint

mincovna, razit mince

authorized

oprávněný

alloy

slitina

copper

měď

introduce

uvést, zavést

cashless payment

bezhotovostní platba

accounting purpose

účetní účel

The money used in a country is its currency - it´s banknotes and coins. Each country has its own local
currency.
Each currency has its currency symbol and currency code.

dollar ($, USD) in the USA
pound (₤, GBP) in the UK
rouble (руб ,RUB) in Russia
yen (¥, JPY) in Japan
euro (€, EUR) in 19 countries of eurozone
new zloty (zł,PLN) in Poland
koruna (Kč,CZK) in the Czech Republic

The Czech koruna has been the currency of the Czech Republic since the year 1993 when it replaced
the Czechoslovak koruna after the division of the Czechoslovak Republic.

Banknotes of denomination 100, 200, 500, 1 000, 2 000 and 5 000 koruna are issued by the Czech
National Bank. Renowned Czech persons appear on the banknotes: emperor Charles the Fourth on a
hundred banknote, teacher scholar and thinker Jan Amos Komenský on a two-hundred note, the first
Czech woman writer Božena Němcová on a five-hundred note, politician and historian František
Palacký on a thousand note and the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk on a five-
thousand note. Special printing technique and special banknote paper is used for banknotes. To
prevent forgery watermark and some protective elements must be on banknotes.

Coins of denomination 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 koruna are in circulation. The only mint which is
authorized to mint coins for the Czech National Bank is in the town of Jablonec nad Nisou in the
north-west of the country. Czech coins are made of alloy of steel, copper, nickel and zinc.

In some member countries of the European Union a single currency, the euro, is used. The countries
which have introduced euro as their currency form eurozone.

2

The euro was introduced on January the 1st, 1999. In the year there were 11 countries in the
eurozone, today the number is 19. First, euro was introduces as a virtual currency for cashless
payments and for accounting purposes. In January 2002 euro was introduced in the form of coins
and banknotes. Banknotes are issued by the national central banks and by the European Central Bank
in Frankfurt in Germany. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them.

Euro is divided into 100 cents. All coins in circulation have a common side showing the
denomination, and a map of Europe in the background. On the national side there is an image
chosen by the country.

The euro banknotes have common designs on both sides. On the front of the note there are windows
or gateways which symbolise openness and cooperation in the EU, while the back side of banknotes
has bridges which symbolise links between countries. On euro banknotes there is the signature of
the President of the European Central Bank.