Bulgarian lev (BGN)

The Lev (lv) (Bulgarian: лев, plural - лева, левове (leva)) is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki (singular - stotinka). In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion," akin to the Romanian and Moldovan lei. The lev was introduced as Bulgaria's legal tender in 1881 and was at the time equal to the French franc. Since then, it has undergone three redenominations. In 1952, following wartime inflation, a "new" lev replaced 100 "old" leva. In 1962, another redenomination took place at the rate of ten to one. After this the lev remained fairly stable for almost three decades. However, like other Communist countries' currencies, it was not freely convertible for Western funds. Therefore, while the official exchange rate was around 90 stotinki to the US dollar, black market rates were five to ten times higher.