Bosnia and Herzegovina konvertibilna marka

The konvertibilna marka (Bosnian, Croatian and Latin-written Serbian, конвертибилна марка in Cyrillic-written Serbian, "convertible mark") (sign: KM or КМ; code: BAM) is the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is divided into 100 feninga (Bosnian, Croatian and Latin Serbian, фенинга in Cyrillic Serbian, singular: fening or фенинг). The names derive from German Mark and Pfennig, hence the occasional local spelling of the subdivision as pfeniga (or пфенига in Cyrillic Serbian). Its ISO 4217 code is BAM and symbols used locally are KM (Latin) or КМ (Cyrillic).

History

The marka was established by the 1995 Dayton Agreement and replaced the Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar, Croatian kuna and Republika Srpska dinar as the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998. Marka refers to the German mark, the currency to which it was pegged at par. Since the replacement of the German mark by the euro in 2002, the Bosnian convertible mark effectively uses the same fixed exchange rate to euro that the German mark has (that is,

Orthography

Whereas English only makes a distinction between singular and plural forms of a noun, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian also use the paucal form (few, as opposed to many). When these rules are applied to the currency, the singular is marka, the paucal is marke and the plural maraka. As for the fening, both the plural and the paucal are feninga.

These matters should be borne in mind when using the local names in English. For example, "10 feningas" is incorrect as the final "a" in "feninga" already marks the plural. Likewise, "10 maraka" is correct and not "10 marakas".

Coins

On December 9, 1998, coins were introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 feninga, 1 and 2 followed on July 31, 2000. The 5 feninga and 5 maraka were introduced on January 5, 2006. The 5 feninga and 1 marka are struck in nickel-plated steel, the 10, 20 and 50 feninga in copper-plated steel, and the 2 and 5 maraka are bimetallic.

Banknotes

In 1998, notes were introduced in denominations of 50 pfeniga, 1 marka, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 maraka. 200 maraka notes were added in 2002, whilst the 50 pfeniga note was withdrawn from circulation on March 31, 2003.

• 50 pfeniga/пфенига, (Skender Kulenović and Branko Ćopić)
• 1 marka/марка (Fra Ivan Franjo Jukić and Ivo Andrić)
• 5 maraka/марака (Meša Selimović)
• 10 maraka/марака (Mehmedalija Mak Dizdar and Aleksa Šantić)
• 20 maraka/марака (Antun Branko Šimić and Filip Višnjić)
• 50 maraka/марака (Musa Ćazim Ćatić and Jovan Dučić)
• 100 maraka/марака (Nikola Šop and Petar Kočić)
• 200 maraka/марака (Ivo Andrić)

The banknotes are issued by the Central Bank of Bosnia Herzegovina, with distinct designs for the Federation and the Republika Srpska (except for the 200 maraka), although all notes are valid throughout the country.

See also

• Currencies related to the euro
• Economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina

External links

• Current circulating currency