Swedish krona

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"Swedish crown" redirects here. For the Swedish monarchy, see Monarch of Sweden.

The krona (currency code SEK) has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. It is locally abbreviated kr. The plural form is kronor and one krona is divided into 100 öre (singular and plural, if not preceded by a number the plural becomes ören). The currency is sometimes informally referred to as the "Swedish crown" in English or the "couronne suédoise" in French.

The introduction of the krona, which replaced at par the riksdaler riksmynt, was a result of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, which came into effect in 1873 and lasted until the First World War. The parties to the union were the Scandinavian countries, where the name was krona in Sweden and krone in Denmark and Norway, which in English literally means crown. After dissolution of the monetary union Sweden, Denmark and Norway all decided to keep the name of their respective and now separate currencies.

By tradition the one-krona coins carry the effigy of current monarch on the obverse, and a crown or one of the two Coat of arms of Sweden on the reverse. The royal motto of the monarch is also inscribed on the coin.

[edit] Coins

[edit] 1 krona coin

Five different versions of the Swedish one krona coin, from left to right:
2001-present: Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
2000: Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
1976-1999: Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
1952-1975: Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
1909-1950: Gustaf V of Sweden

[edit] Other denominations

There are also 2-kronor coins (minted 1952–1971) in circulation, although rarely seen. These contained 40% silver until 1966, which meant that they already several years ago were worth much more than 2 kr, so most have been bought and melted down by arbitrageurs, and the rest are kept by collectors. In addition, all jubilee and commemorative coins are also legal tender. In the past there have also been ½ öre, 1 öre, 2 öre, 5 öre, 10 öre and 25 öre coins. These are no longer legal tender.

[edit] Banknotes

[edit] Recent changes

The Riksdag (the Swedish parliament) decided on October 27, 2004, following a proposal from the Riksbank, that some older series of banknotes and coins would cease to be legal tender after December 31, 2005. The banknotes and coins affected were:

• all silver-coloured 50-öre coins.
• the old, slightly larger version of the 20-krona banknote with the bluish shade.
• the old 100- and 500-krona banknotes without a foil strip.

None of the banknotes are common in circulation, but the two variants of the 50 öre coin were, until 2005 just as common as the copper coin. [1]

Commercial banks stopped accepting the old 50 öre coin on 30 April 2006, and will continue accepting the invalid notes until the end of 2006. After that, the notes may still be exchanged at the central bank. The coins, on the other hand, formally lost their complete value when commercial banks stopped accepting them.

As of March 15, 2006 there are security enhanced versions of the 50 and 1000 krona banknotes in circulation.

[edit] Exchange rate

The exchange rate of the Swedish krona against other currencies has historically been dependent on the monetary policy pursued by Sweden at the time. Since November 1992 a managed float regime has been upheld.

[edit] The euro

According to the 1995 accession treaty, Sweden is required to join the eurozone and therefore must convert to the euro at some point. Notwithstanding this, on 14 September 2003, a consultative Swedish referendum was held on the euro, the result of which was a strong rejection of the common currency. The Swedish government has argued that such a line of action is possible since one of the requirements for eurozone membership is a prior two-year membership of the ERM II. By simply choosing to stay outside the exchange rate mechanism, the Swedish government is provided a formal loophole avoiding the theoretical requirement of adopting the euro. Some of Sweden's major parties continue to believe that it would be in the national interest to join, but they have all pledged to abide by the results for the time being and show no interest in raising the issue again.

[edit] See also

• Monetary policy of Sweden
• Swedish National Debt Office
• Table of historical exchange rates
• Scandinavian Monetary Union
• Danish krone
• Norwegian krone

[edit] External links

• (English) Sveriges Riksbank

de:Schwedische Krone et:Rootsi kroon es:Corona sueca eo:Krono (mono) fr:Couronne suédoise id:Krona Swedia nl:Zweedse kroon ja:スウェーデン・クローナ no:Svensk krone pl:Korona szwedzka pt:Coroa sueca ru:Шведская крона fi:Ruotsin kruunu sv:Svensk krona zh:瑞典克朗