TOP5+1 surprising facts about the Hungarian Forint

The forint has been the official currency of Hungary for 76 years this year. On the occasion of this anniversary, we have collected 5+1 surprising facts about the Hungarian currency, and we will also shed light on its darkest day ever.

76-year-old currency

The Hungarian forint was introduced in 1946, following the hyperinflation after World War II that had completely devalued the country’s currency of the time, the pengő. The critical economic situation was mainly caused by the devastation of the world war. The hyperinflation is best illustrated by the price of a kilogram of bread. In August 1945, the price of a kilo of bread was 6 pengő. Less than a year later, in June 1946, it was almost 6 billion pengő, reports the Hungarian news portal Origo. At this point, prices doubled every 15 hours, and the catastrophic situation only ended when the colonial government introduced the forint on 1st August 1946. The value of 1 forint was then fixed at 400,000 quadrillion (ten to the twenty-fourth) pengő.

The forint itself, however, is not a Hungarian invention and is much older than the current Hungarian forint. The gold forint, minted in Florence from 1252, was one of the most famous currencies of the Middle Ages.

Foreign exchange rates

Exchange rates were set centrally in the country at the time. In the year of the introduction of the new Hungarian currency, one US dollar cost 11.70 fillér (penny, the coins at that time) which remained unchanged for a long time. The strengthening of the dollar against the forint began in 1969 after the introduction of the new economic mechanism. At that time, one US dollar cost 30 forints. The situation was similar for the German marka, which was added to the Hungarian National Bank’s public list in 1955 at 2.80 forints. In 1969, it rose to 7.50 forints, and a few months later to 8.20 forints. The marka finally disappeared in 2002 at 124.50 forints when Germany adopted the euro as its currency, reports the Hungarian news portal Blikk.

The darkest day of the Hungarian Forint

The forint suffered its greatest weakness in the darkest days of the 2008 global financial crisis.

On 10th October 2008, the euro appreciated by 5.9%, jumping from around 249 forints to 269 forints.