Historical Sketch

During the 14th century, most of the Slovene lands came under Habsburg rule. After the Napoleonic Wars, the nominal Kingdom of Illyria was created in personal union with Austria, which lasted until 1849 when it was split into duchies and the Littoral province. After World War I, Slovenia joined Serbia to form the new state of Yugoslavia. During World War II, Germany and Italy crushed and partitioned Yugoslavia. The Slovene lands were distributed between Italy, Germany, and Hungary. The Italian portion was taken over by Germany as Province of Ljubljana (Laibach) after Italy had left the Axis coalition in 1943. After the war, Yugoslavia was restored. During the 1980s, the inter-ethnic tensions within Yugoslavia were rising, and after a referendum end 1990, Slovenia unilaterally declared independence in June 1991. It was only little affected by the subsequent Yugoslav civil war that went on until the mid-1990s.

Monetary History Overview

Before independence in 1991, Slovenia had local money only for a short time during World War II occupation. After Germany had taken over the administration of the territory formerly occupied by Italy, the so-called "Province of Laibach", supply of Italian banknotes could no longer be secured. Rather than introducing German occupation currencies, the local government decided in November 1944 that the local Savings Bank shall issue paper money in Italian currency, the so-called "Laibach Lira". At the same time, a Slovenian partisan government was established and created the "Currency Institute of Slovenia" that issued money for the partisans. The wartime currencies were withdrawn in mid-1945 after the restoration of Yugoslavia.

Independent Slovenia quickly withdrew from the Yugoslav currency area. The national bank was established in June 1991, and in October the Yugoslav currency was exchanged in October of the year. Initially, provisional paper money ("vouchers") were issued that were followed by regular banknotes in September 1992. The Slovenian Tolar was exchanged against the Yugoslav Dinar on par, but directly devalued by 60%. After a few weeks, the exchange rate was floated. In the early 2000s, after the Tolar had lost another 75% of its value, the economy stabilized, and the currency received a soft peg to the European currency. In 2007, Slovenia joined the European Monetary Union and introduced the European Euro. The Slovenian banknotes and coins were withdrawn in within two months.

Slovenia joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 14.12.1992.

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