Timeline

• 16.09.1859
• JD:04.09.1859
• Government decree on the rating of foreign coins in Wallachian accounting units:
  - Gold: Austrian Ducat = 31½ Wallachian Piastres; British Sovereign = 67 Wallachian Piastres; 20 French Francs = 54 Wallachian Piastres; 100 Turkish Piastres = 60¾ Wallachian Piastres;
  - Silver: Austrian Guilder (1857) = 6³⁄₁₀ Wallachian Piastres; 5 French Francs = 13½ Wallachian Piastres.
  - The two Moldovan accounting units were fixed as: 8 Wallachian Piastres = 9 Moldovan Piastres (Iași) = 12 Moldovan Piastres (Galați).
• 1860-1864
• Projects for the introduction of a Romanian currency in the standard of the French Franc. Intended name was "Romanat" or "Român", the subunit was to be named "Sutime" (for which trial strikes of 10, 5 Sutimi were produced in 1984).

Timeline

• 26.04.1867
• JD:04.04.1867
• Monetary law on the adoption of the French bimetallic standard as base for the national currency; effective 13.02.1868 [JD:01.02.1868]
• 13.02.1868
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 13.02.1868 [JD:01.02.1868]: Start of issuance of the new coins
  - 13.07.1868 [JD:01.07.1868]: End of acceptance of foreign coins for payments to public offices
  - 13.12.1873: Demonetization of foreign coinage outside the Latin Monetary Union.
• 28.04.1880
• JD:17.04.1880
• Law on the establishment of the National Bank of Romania as central bank; effective upon constitution of the bank on 13.12.1880 [JD:01.12.1880].
  - 28.11.1880 [JD:17.11.1880]: Start of issuance of paper money by the central bank.
• 17.03.1890
• Monetary law on the switch to the gold standard; effective 04.04.1890
• 1919-1920
• Monetary integration of the formerly Austro-Hungarian Bukovina and Transylvania:
  - 07.06.1919: Ordinance on the nationalization (overprinting) of the paper money of the Austro-Hungarian Bank; implemented 16.06.-28.08.1919
  12.08.1920: Ordinance on the exchange of the overprinted paper money at a rate of 1 Romanian Leu = 2 Austro-Hungarian Crowns; implemented 01.09.-20.09.1920 (notes of 10'000 Crowns were accepted until 30.11.1920).
• 1919-1920
• Monetary integration of the formerly Russian Bessarabia:
  - 12.08.1920: Ordinance on the exchange of Russian paper money at a rate of 1 Romanian Leu = 1 Russian Ruble ("Romanov") and 0.30 Romanian Leu = 1 Russian Ruble ("Lvov"); implemented 01.09.-20.09.1920 with a maximum of 5'000 Rubles exchanged per person.
• 28.12.1946
• Banking law [No. 1056] on the nationalization of the National Bank of Romania; effective 01.01.1947

Valuation Regimes

• 1868-1917
• Metallic currency based on circulating gold and silver coins; after 1890 silver became subsidiary. Paper money became invonvertible in 1892, gold exports were banned in September 1914, and the gold standard was suspended formally in June 1917.
• 1917-1929
• Variable rate
• 1929-1936
• Fixed rate against gold, convertibility suspended on 17.05.1932
• 1929-1944
• Fixed rate against gold, de facto suspended on 07.05.1932. Between mid-1941 and mid-1944, the Romanian currency was de facto pegged to the German Reichsmark at a rate of 1 : 60, and between mid-1944 and mid-1945 to the Soviet Ruble (1922) at a (military) rate of 1 : 100.
• 1945-1947
• Variable rate, highly inflationary

Timeline

• 15.08.1947
• Law [No. 287] on the currency reform; effective immediately
• 16.08.1947
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 16.08.1947: Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins
  - Partial confiscation: Per person, a maximum of 3 million Lei (1868) was exchanged, excess cash was invalidated.
  - 21.08.1947: End of exchange period, demonetization of the former currency.
• 15.11.1948
• Government decree [No. 320] on the reconstitution of the central bank into the "Bank of the Romanian People's Republic, State Bank"; effective immediately

Valuation Regimes

• 1947-1952
• Fixed rate against US Dollar

Timeline

• 26.01.1952
• Government and Central Committee resolution [No. 147] on the currency reform; effective immediately
• 28.01.1952
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 28.01.1952: Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins
  - Partial confiscation: Per person, a maximum of 1'000 Lei (1947) was exchanged at a rate of 1 : 50, an additional maximum of 2'000 Lei (1947) was exchanged at a rate of 1 : 100, further excess cash was exchanged at a rate of 1 : 200, coins remained in circulation at a rate of 1 : 20.
  - 31.01.1952: End of exchange period, demonetization of the former currency
  - 01.02.1952: Transformation of deposits using the same rates as for cash.
• 16.12.1970: Government decree [No. 504] on the reconstitution of the central bank into the "Bank of the Socialist Republic of Romania" (implementing §116 of the Romanian constitution of 21.08.1965); effective immediately
• 29.03.1991
• Bank law [No. 34] on the reconstitution of the central bank into the "National Bank of Romania"; effective immediately

Valuation Regimes

• 1952-1960
• Fixed rate against Soviet Ruble (1947)
• 1961-1980
• Fixed rate against Soviet Ruble (1961)
• 1981-1991
• Variable rate. On 01.01.1981, introduction of a Capitalistic Commercial Rate that dominated the Offcial Rate in most transaction. On 01.01.1990, the Effective Rate, combining Commercial and Non-commercial Capitalistic Rates completely replaced the Official Rate. Both rates were adjusted against US Dollar from time to time.
• 1991-2005
• Variable rate, highly inflationary

Timeline

• 14.07.2004
• Law [No. 348] on the currency reform; effective 01.07.2005
• 01.07.2005
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 01.07.2005: Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins
  - 31.12.2006: Demonetization of the former currency.

Valuation Regimes

• 2005-
• Variable rate