Historical Sketch

The Principality of Serbia was founded in the 8th century in the course of Christianization of the western Balkans. In the mid-16th century, it came under Ottoman suzerainty which where it attained de facto autonomy after the uprisings of 1804 and 1815. Serbian independence was officially recognized after the Ottoman defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1878. Four years later, Serbia became a kingdom. The victory in World War I rendered Serbia the leading power in the west Balkans which absorbed neighboring Montenegro and Slavic lands of the defunct Habsburg Empire to form Yugoslavia. During World War II, when Yugoslavia had been dissolved by the Axis powers, the Serbian state was recreated under German military command. After the war and long-lasting struggle for liberation, Yugoslavia was restored in 1945. In the early 1990s, Yugoslavia disintegrated, and the different constituent republics seceded one by one, leaving only Montenegro and Serbia. In 2003, the Yugoslav unitary state was formally transformed into a Serbian-Montenegrin state union. Following a referendum, also the last remainder of Yugoslavia disappeared, Montenegro left the union, and Serbia was proclaimed an independent republic.

Monetary History Overview

In the early 19th century, Serbian accounting was done in units of the Piastre which distinguished between the so-called "Tax Piastre" for government accounting and the slightly fluctuating "Trade Piastre" used in commerce. The money in circulation was Austrian, Turkish and Russian. The introduction of a national currency began in 1868 with the issuance of subsidiary coins to the Tax Piastre denominated Para. The coinage law of December 1873 created the 1st Serbian Dinar only as a silver coin of 2½ Tax Piastres. Three years later, Serbia formally adopted the bimetallic standard of the Latin Monetary Union, and the Dinar became the national currency. The National Bank of Serbia began operations in 1884 and took over the central bank role. In the run-up to First World War, the gold peg was abandoned. The Serbian Dinar became the currency of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Yugoslavia, when the National Bank extended its role to the different parts of the new state.

In 1941, Germany occupied Yugoslavia and dissolved the state. The Kingdom of Serbia was nominally restored under German military command. In May 1941, the National Bank of Serbia was re-established by the occupation authorities, and the 2nd Serbian Dinar was created as new currency (after the puppet ruler also referred to as "Nedić Dinar"). The Yugoslav money was withdrawn until mid 1942. The Dinar was pegged to the German Reichsmark, and German money was also current. At the German defeat in the Second World War, Yugoslavia was restored, and the Serbian state reintegrated. The wartime and occupation currencies were withdrawn until April 1945.

In 1991, all Yugoslavian republics seceded except for Montenegro and Serbia. In 2003, Yugoslavia nominally disappeared as a state, succeeded by the Serbian-Montenegrin State Union, which turned out to be short-lived only. In July 2003, the National Bank of Serbia was re-established for the third time. It was the formal successor to the currency institute of former Yugoslavia, and the last Yugoslav currency unit was relabled into the 3rd Serbian Dinar. The Serbian-Montenegrin State Union, however, did not have a common currency since Montenegro had adopted the Euro already in 2000.

Serbia joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 14.12.1992 as the formal successor of Yugoslavia.

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