Danish krone

From Free net encyclopedia

Danish coins and notes
Unit (DKK)	Obverse	Reverse
Coins
.25	Crown of King Christian V	Heart (symbol of the Royal Mint)
.50	Crown of King Christian V	Heart (symbol of the Royal Mint)
1	Monogram of Queen Margrethe II	Traditional design
2	Monogram of Queen Margrethe II	Traditional design
5	Monogram of Queen Margrethe II	Traditional design
10	Portrait of Queen Margrethe II	National Coat of Arms
20	Portrait of Queen Margrethe II	National Coat of Arms
Banknotes
50	Karen Blixen	Centaur from Landet Church
100	Carl Nielsen	Basilisk from Tømmerby Church
200	Johanne Luise Heiberg	Lion from Viborg Cathedral
500	Niels Bohr	Knight fighting a dragon from Lihme Church
1000	Anna and Michael Ancher	Tournament from Bislev Church

The Danish krone is the currency used in Denmark and the Danish dependency of Greenland. On the Faroe Islands Danish coins are used as well but the islands use bank notes with unique Faroese motifs (see: Faroese króna; although a common misunderstanding, the Faroese króna is legally speaking not an independent currency.) The plural form is "kroner" and one krone is divided into 100 øre, singular and plural. The ISO 4217 code is DKK. In 2006, the governments of Denmark and Greenland announced that by 2008, Greenlanders would be able to pay with Danish banknotes printed with Greenlandic motifs, similar to the current situation in the Faroes. Ordinary Danish banknotes will remain legal tender in Greenland.

The krone was introduced as legal tender in Denmark in 1873 (replacing the rigsdaler at a rate of 2 krone = 1 rigsdaler), and was a result of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, which lasted until World War I. The initial parties to the monetary union were the Scandinavian countries of Sweden and Denmark, with Norway joining two years later.

The name of the common currency was the "krone" in Denmark and Norway, and the "krona" in Sweden (both names meaning "crown" in English). After the dissolution of the monetary union Denmark, Norway, and Sweden all decided to keep the name of their respective and now separate currencies.

Denmark negotiated special "opt-outs" of the Maastricht Treaty that allowed the country to preserve the krone while the majority of the European Union adopted the euro in 1999. A new referendum held in 2000 reconfirmed the population's attachment to the krone. The Liberal-Conservative government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen planned on holding another referendum on the adoption of the euro in 2004, but these plans were dropped when polls showed decreasing support of the euro. The government is still committed to Danish membership of the euro.

The krone is closely pegged to the euro via the ERM II, the European Union's exchange rate mechanism. Before the introduction of the euro, the krone was linked to the Deutsche Mark, thus keeping the krone stable at all times.

The Danish Krone is minted by the Danish National Bank.

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