November 29, 2020, marks the 27th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency of the Republic of Moldova

Beginning with November 29, 1993, Soviet rubles and coupons issued by the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) were exchanged for lei. Since December 2, 1993, at 18:00, the leu is considered as the only legal means of payment on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. According to the National Bank, on November 29, 1993, a dollar was worth three lei and 85 bani. In April 1994, the banknote with a face value of five lei was issued for the first time, and a month later, the 10 lei and 50 lei banknotes were put into circulation, writes zugo.md. In September 1995, the 100 and 200 lei banknotes appeared, only in four years, in 1999, the 500 lei banknotes were issued. The most recent banknote put into circulation is the 1000 lei banknote, printed in October 2003. On September 27, 2010, the NBM put into circulation new one and 20 lei banknotes, which have the same dimensions, colours and security elements as the previous ones. . The only difference is the governor's signature. Moldovan coins are minted at the Romanian State Mint. (except for the 50 bani coin, the 1997 version, the gold one, made of brass steel, which is minted in the Czech Republic). The higher the value of the banknote, the more security elements it has. The drawings on the Moldovan leu banknotes are the work of the plastic artist Gheorghe Vrabie. He worked on the design of the national currency in the Printing House of the Romanian National Bank in Bucharest, because "the conditions in Chisinau were inappropriate". Gheorghe Vrabie remembers that, when it was decided that he would be the author of the national currency, he was sent to Bucharest, being told that not even his wife knew where he was. "I worked for three months, in Bucharest, with the sentry next to me, without anyone knowing where I was because the authorities were careful not to leak the information" The first Moldovan lei, 1993:

The second series of printed lei, 1994 - present:

Source: unica.md