The least valued currency unit is the currency in which a single unit buys the least number of any given other currency or the smallest amount of a given good. Most commonly, the calculation is made against a major reserve currency such as the United States dollar (USD) or the euro (EUR). Sub-units are not considered when looking for the least valued currency: for example, while a British pound sterling might be considered, a British penny would not be.

Current least valued currency units

As of September 22, 2008, there were 26 currencies for which 1 USD was worth over 1,000 units.

In addition:

• If black market rates were used, some of the items would rank differently. The North Korean won is believed to be worth about 2,500 to the US dollar as of June 2008, the Myanmar kyat is worth about 1,150 to the US dollar as of June 2008, the Somali shilling approximately 34,000 to the US dollar as of May 2008, and the Vietnamese dong about 18,500 to the US dollar as of June 2008.
• As of April 2008, a "commercial rate" separate from the official exchange rate exists in Turkmenistan available only within its borders at 17,600 manats for the sale of US dollars and 17,430 manats for the purchase of US dollars by the central bank.
• Somaliland, not widely recognised as an independent sovereign state, issues its own currency, the Somaliland shilling. The Somaliland Central Bank currently has no official exchange rate. Unofficial exchange rates have fluctuated between 5,750 and 6,250 shillings per dollar since late 2004 with the rate approximately at 6,000 shillings to the US dollar as of June 2008 7
• The Zimbabwean dollar had 10 zeros cut off on 1 August 2008. Therefore, the exchange rate of Z$70 billion (Z$750 billion parallel rate) was cut to Z$7 (Z$75 parallel rate).

No.	State	Currency	Abbr	1 United States Dollar = (as of October 9 2008)	1 Euro = (as of October 9 2008)	Highest valued coin (if any)	Highest valued banknote	Notes
1.		dollar	ZWD	4,183,564.08	5,659,312.55	25 (0.001¢)	20,000 (0.48¢)	Offical rate: 1USD = 176.33 ZWD RBZ
2.		shilling	SOS	34,000	49,000	None in use	1,000 (3.0¢)	Mid Market rate: 1USD = 1,402.10 SOS
3.		đồng	VND	18,000	26,000	5,000 (27.7¢)	500,000 ($27.77)	Mid Market rate: 1USD = 16,608 VND
4.		manat +	TMM	17,430	25,060	1,000 (5.7¢)	10,000 (57.4¢)	Mid Market rate: 1USD = 5,200.05 TMM
5.		dobra	STD	14,351.50	19,611.93	2,000 (13.9¢)	50,000 ($3.48)
6.		rial +	IRR	9,889.10	13,513.87	500 (5.1¢)	50,000 (legal tender; $5.06) 5,000,000 ("cash cheque"; $505.61)
7.		rupiah	IDR	9,546.41	13,045.57	1,000 (10.5¢, uncommon) 500 (5.2¢, common)	100,000 ($10.48)
8.		kip	LAK	8,566.40	11,706.35	None in use	50,000 ($5.84)
9.		franc	GNF	5,032.75	6,877.46	None in use	10,000 ($1.99)
10.		riel	KHR	4,134.20	5,649.50	None in use	100,000 ($24.19)
11.		guaraní	PYG	3,988.95	5,451.07	1,000 (25.1¢)	100,000 ($25.07)
12.		kwacha	ZMK	3,687.65	5,039.33	None in use	50,000 ($13.56)
13.		leone	SLL	2,955	4,038.13	500 (16.9¢, uncommon) 100 (3.4¢)	10,000 ($3.38)
14.		won	KPW	2,500.00	3,369.95	100 (4.0¢)	5,000 ($2.00)	Mid Market rate: 1USD = 142.45 KRW
15.		peso +	COP	2,304.50	3,149.20	500 (21.7¢)	50,000 ($21.70)
16.		ruble	BYR	2,118.78	2,895.40	None in use	100,000 ($47.20)
17.		shilling	UGX	1,732	2,366.85	500 (28.9¢)	50,000 ($28.87)
18.		ariary	MGA	1,690.05	2,309.52	50 (3.0¢)	10,000 ($5.92)
19.		pound	LBP	1,502.45	2,053.15	500 (33.3¢)	100,000 ($66.56)
20.		won ‡	KRW	1,382.24	1,888.89	500 (36.2¢)	10,000 ($7.23)
21.		som	UZS	1,335.81	1,825.44	100 (7.5¢)	1,000 (74.9¢)
22.		shilling	TZS	1,213.08	1,657.72	200 (16.5¢)	10,000 ($8.24)
23.		kyat	MMK	1,190	1,626.19	100 (8.4¢)	1,000 (84.0¢)	Mid Market rate: 1USD = 6.4198 MMK
24.		dinar	IQD	1,175.91	1,606.93	100 (8.5¢)	25,000 ($21.26)
25.		franc	BIF	1,172.35	1,602.07	None in use	10,000 ($8.53)
26.		tögrög	MNT	1,144.35	1,563.80	500 (43.7¢)	20,000 ($17.48)
USD		dollar	USD	1.00	1.3665	1 (€0.73, uncommon) .25 (€0.18, common)	100 (€73.18)
EUR		euro	EUR	0.7317	1.00	2 ($2.73)	500 ($683.27)
Data for all other currencies taken from Xe.com Data for Zimbabwe Dollar taken from OMIR Data for Myanma kyat taken from The Irrawaddy News Magazine

Notes : + – Redenomination is currently being considered.

‡ – The least valued currency of any OECD member state

Historical least valued currencies

Start Date	Finish Date	Country	Currency Unit	Units per US Dollar	Notes
1 Jan 1994	Mid Jan 1994		Angolan novo kwanza (AON)	34,200	-
Mid Jan 1994	23 Jan 1994	Yugoslavia	Yugoslav "1994 dinar"	Changed daily	new currency 24 Jan 1994: 10~13 million "1994 dinara" -> 1 novi dinar (YUM) (pegged to 1 German mark)
24 Jan 1994	30 June 1995		Angolan novo kwanza (AON)	34,200 - 2,100,000	new currency 1 July 1995: 1,000 novos kwanzas (AON) -> 1 new kwanza reajustado (AOR)
1 Jul 1995	30 Apr 1996		Turkish lira (TRL)	43,100 - 69,200	-
1 May 1996	30 Nov 1999		Angolan kwanza reajustado (AOR)	150,000 - 5,400,000	new currency 1 Dec 1999: 1,000,000 kwanzas reajustados (AOR) -> 1 new Angolan kwanza (AOA)
1 Dec 1999	31 Dec 2004		Turkish lira (TRL)	533,000 - 1,350,000	new currency 1 Jan 2005: 1,000,000 old Turkish lira (TRL) -> 1 new Turkish lira (TRY) (old lira valid to end of 2005)
1 Jan 2005	30 June 2005		Romanian leu (ROL)	29,110 - 29,850	new currency 1 July 2005: 10,000 old Romanian lei (ROL) -> 1 new Romanian leu (RON) (old leu valid to end of 2006)
1 July 2005	24 Aug 2005		Mozambican metical (MZM)	24,400	new currency 1 July 2006: 1,000 old Mozambique meticais (MZM) -> 1 new Mozambique metical (MZN) (old metical valid to end of 2006)
24 Aug 2005	31 Jul 2006		Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)	25,000-101,000 (official) 45,000-550,000 (parallel)	changed daily due to hyperinflation redenominated currency 1 Aug 2006: 1,000 old Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD) -> 1 revalued Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)
1 Aug 2006	ca. 21 Mar 2007		Vietnamese đồng (VND)	16,000 - 16,736	-
ca. 21 Mar 2007	ca. 6 Apr 2007		Revalued Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)	250 (official) 16,000 - 30,000 (parallel)	Changed daily due to hyperinflation
ca. 6 Apr 2007	8 Apr 2007		Vietnamese đồng (VND)	16,022	Zimbabwean dollar briefly rose in value
ca. 8 Apr 2007	31 Jul 2008		Revalued Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)	250 - 69,484,070,056 (official) 20,000 - 751,089,467,956 (parallel)	Changed daily due to hyperinflation. Redenominated currency 1 Aug 2008: 10,000,000,000 old Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD) -> 1 revalued Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)
1 Aug 2008	10 Sep 2008		Vietnamese đồng (VND)	16,432	Zimbabwean dollar redenominated. Vietnamese đồng (VND) is the least valued currency unit once again.
11 Sep 2008	15 Sep 2008		Third Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)	18,888.01 - 25,383.96	Changed daily due to hyperinflation.
16 Sep 2008	16 Sep 2008		Vietnamese đồng (VND)	16,432	Zimbabwean dollar slightly rose in value.
17 Sep 2008	Present		Third Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)	22,837.27 - 4,183,564	Changes daily due to hyperinflation.

Many currencies are not permitted to float on the foreign exchange market, to prevent capital flight or for political reasons. As a result, the parallel market (black market) price of a currency may deviate substantially from its official value.

See also

• Highest valued currency unit
• Devaluation
• Inflation
• Hyperinflation
• Denomination (currency)

References

• www.xe.com
• www.oanda.com
• Bloomberg.com: World Currencies