Polish Zloty (PLN)

About the Polish Zloty

The Polish Zloty (PLN) is the official currency of Poland, written with the symbol zł and issued by Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP), the country's central bank, headquartered in Warsaw. One złoty divides into 100 grosze, and the ISO 4217 standard assigns the currency the alphabetic code PLN and the numeric code 985. Poland has used the present złoty since a redenomination effective 1 January 1995 replaced an earlier, high-inflation złoty at a fixed ratio.

Narodowy Bank Polski implements its inflation-targeting strategy under what it describes as a floating exchange rate regime, which does not rule out interventions in the foreign exchange market whenever warranted by market conditions or the country's macroeconomic or financial stability. Since 2004 the Monetary Policy Council has targeted annual consumer price inflation of 2.5 percent, with a symmetric tolerance band of plus or minus one percentage point. Poland, an EU member since 2004, has not adopted the euro; the European Commission states the zloty does not participate in ERM II and no target date for adoption has been set.

The present złoty dates from a redenomination that Narodowy Bank Polski carried out from 1 January 1995 under the Act of 7 July 1994 on the Denomination of the Zloty, introducing a new monetary unit worth 10,000 of the old, inflation-eroded złoty. Old złoty notes and coins remained legal tender alongside the new currency until 1 January 1997 and stayed exchangeable at NBP branches through 31 December 2010. NBP put the nine current general-circulation coin denominations, from 1 grosz to 5 złoty, into circulation on that same 1 January 1995 date.

Foreign exchange turnover involving the złoty averaged 74 billion US dollars per day in April 2025, according to the Bank for International Settlements' Triennial Central Bank Survey 2025, a 0.8 percent global share that ranked PLN the 20th most traded currency worldwide, immediately behind the South African rand and ahead of the Danish krone. Turnover has more than doubled since the 2016 survey, when the złoty's daily average stood at 35 billion US dollars.

Cash circulates in six banknotes — 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 złoty — issued in a modernised series alongside the still-valid previous issuance of most denominations, and nine coins: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 grosze plus 1, 2 and 5 złoty. Narodowy Bank Polski also issues commemorative coins and banknotes for anniversaries and notable figures; these are full legal tender at face value, independent of whatever collector value the numismatic market assigns them.