World Currency Questions and Answers

Answer: C

It is the Ukrainian hryvnia.

The hryvnia replaced the karbovanets in 1996, taking its name from a medieval weight of silver used in Kyivan Rus. It was fixed against the dollar in 2022 and later allowed to float within a band.

Answer: A

It is pound sterling.

Sterling is the oldest currency still in use, dating from Anglo-Saxon England. Scotland and Northern Ireland have banks issuing their own sterling notes, which are not legal tender even there but are accepted by custom.

Answer: B

It is the United States dollar.

The dollar is the world's principal reserve currency, held in about 58 per cent of official reserves, and is the currency in which most oil and commodity trade is priced.

Answer: C

It is the Bhutanese ngultrum.

The ngultrum is pegged at par to the Indian rupee, which also circulates freely in Bhutan. It replaced the silver rupee in 1974 and is divided into 100 chhertum.

Answer: A

It is the Cuban peso.

Cuba ran two currencies for a quarter century - the peso and the convertible peso for tourists and foreign trade - until unification in 2021 left the peso alone.

Answer: B

It was 1861.

The Paper Currency Act of 1861 gave the government of India the monopoly of note issue, ending the private banks' right to issue. The Reserve Bank took over the function in 1935.

Answer: C

It was 1 April 1957.

The rupee was divided into 100 naye paise from that date, replacing the 16 annas of 4 pice each. The word naya was dropped in 1964, once people had grown used to the new reckoning.

Answer: A

It is the government of India.

Coins are issued by the government under the Coinage Act, and it decides the quantity to be minted; the Reserve Bank is only the distributing agent. Notes are the Reserve Bank's, except the one-rupee note, which is the government's.

Answer: D

It is the Minimum Reserve System.

Since 1957 the Reserve Bank must hold assets of at least Rs 200 crore, of which Rs 115 crore in gold, and may issue notes to any amount above that. It replaced the proportional reserve system, which had tied issue to a fixed fraction of reserves.

Answer: A

It was 4 paise.

The old rupee held 16 annas, and each anna held 4 pice - so 64 pice to the rupee. When the rupee was decimalised in 1957 into 100 paise, one anna became worth 6.25 new paise.