Turkmenistan has new faces on their money

ANKARA. January 14. KAZINFORM Mew manat was introduced with ISO 4217 code TMT. 1 new manat is equal to 5,000 old manat after denomination in Turkmenistan began with new year. The biggest old 10,000 manat banknote is worth 2 new manats now.

President Kurbanguly Berdymukhammedov declared on a national television that new manat will reinforce the Turkmen currency and hopefully attract more foreign investment. He said that Turkmenistan's economy does not have a fear of inflation because "Turkmenistan's economy is stable and powerful." The image of the former leader Saparmurat Niyazov, who was in power for more than 20 years, was withdrawed from some of the new banknotes. His face still remains on some denominations, but there are Turkmen philosophers, poets, and monarhcs also on the others. Both old and new banknotes will be used as a legal means of payment in all forms of cash payments during 2009. Old banknotes can be exchanged in all banks of Turkmenistan until 31 December 2010. By the way, January salaries were paid with the new currency, Kazinform cites the Journal of Turkish Weekly.