Despite Kazakhstan's independence in 1991, the country's single payment system remained the ruble. The history of the original tenge began two years later, on November 12, 1993. On the same day, President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the Law "On the introduction of the national currency of the Republic of Kazakhstan." November 15 is National Currency Day.
Where did the name "Tenge" come from?
The name of the currency was not chosen immediately. Initially, apart from "tenge", there were such names as "som", "money", "gold", all of which were chosen. The name "Tenge" was suggested by academician Sauyk Takezhanov. This concept originated from the word "denge" or "tanga" in medieval Turkic silver coins.
Our first currency was issued abroad
The first tenge, a symbol of our economic independence, was issued in the United Kingdom due to the lack of a printing plant in our country. The First President of Kazakhstan said: “We earned seven million dollars and paid for the rest of our money. We rented four Il-76 planes and brought 60% of our money. It was a very secret operation. The documents read: "Property for the President's residence under construction." Prior to that, we have built underground warehouses in the regions. Four planes operated eighteen flights a week from London to Uralsk and from there to the regions. I announced November 12 as the day of deposit. There are less than twenty days left. I mobilized all the KNB leaders for the operation. The most difficult thing is to deliver the money to the whole district, to all the banks. It was completed in eight days. Probably, the introduction of new money in the world has not been so fast and successful. "
Our own money-printing factory was founded two years later, in 1995.
Artists such as Timur Suleimenov, Mendibay Alin, Agymsaly Duzelkhanov, Kairolla Abzhalelov made a great contribution to the birth of the Kazakh currency.
1 tenge = 500 rubles
The conversion of old money into domestic tenge began on November 15, 1993 and ended on November 20. At that time, 1 tenge was equal to 500 rubles. Portraits of Al-Farabi on 1 tenge, Suyunbay on 3 tenge, Kurmangazy on 5 tenge, Chokan Valikhanov on 10 tenge, Abay on 20 tenge, Abulkhayr khan on 50 tenge, Abylay khan on 100 tenge are depicted. It was also suggested to put the image of the President on one of the banknotes. However, Nazarbayev did not approve of it and opposed it.
Diana ASAN,
National portal "Adyrna"
