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10 000 Leva
| Issuer | Bulgarian National Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1997 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Десет Хиляди Лева Българска Народна Банка Петър Берон 1799-1871 (Translation: Ten Thousand Leva Bulgarian National Bank Petar Beron 1799-1871) |
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| Reverse lettering | За подправка виновните се наказват съгласно закона Десет Хиляди Лева Българска Народна Банка (Translation: For forgery the guilty are punished according to the law Ten Thousand Leva Bulgarian National Bank) |
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| Comments |
Bulgaria's 1997 hyperinflation was among the most severe in post-communist Europe — the lev lost roughly half its value each month at the crisis peak, and denominations climbed so fast that a 10,000 lev note, unthinkable just years earlier, was ordinary spending money by mid-year. The Bulgarian National Bank lost control of monetary policy so completely that the government was forced to introduce a currency board in July 1997, pegging the lev to the Deutschmark at 1,000:1 and effectively surrendering independent interest rate policy.
This note was printed before the redenomination that followed, making it a direct artifact of the collapse rather than the recovery. The 1,000:1 conversion meant 10,000 leva became exactly 10 new leva — a ratio that underscores just how far the currency had deteriorated.