The currency reform of 1948 went into effect on June 20, 1948, in the Trizone, the three western occupation zones of Germany. From June 21, 1948, the Deutsche Mark ("DM", also "D-Mark") was the sole legal tender there. The two previously valid means of payment, the Reichsmark and the Rentenmark of equivalent value (both abbreviated as "RM"), were removed from circulation and replaced by the Deutschmark. The currency reform of 1948 is one of the most significant economic policy measures in post-war German history. It enabled the Western occupation zones to receive Marshall Plan aid and was thereby one of the prerequisites of the Economic Miracle of the 1950s. [1]
From 1936 to 1945, the financing of rearmament and the creation of money and compulsory levies from occupied territories resulted in a large excess of printed currency. Shortly before World War II, food was only available with monthly food stamps at fixed prices, and many civilian goods were only available with a ration card. As the basic principles of price formation by supply and demand were invalidated by comprehensive rationing, the external value of the Reichsmark was largely separated from the market. Compounding the issue, restrictions on foreign exchange prevented the outflow of surplus money and resulted in a decline in any value the RM still had. [2] In 1945 the money supply was five to six times greater than the actual value of the economy. [3]
Immediately after the war, there was a significant scarcity of goods caused by the destruction of infrastructure, restrictions on agricultural production, and the dismantling of industrial facilities as part of an Allied effort to prevent Germany from regaining military industrial capacity. A major cause was also the large-scale hoarding of goods by the German people in anticipation of a currency reform. Near the end of February 1946, the normal consumer food ration in the Bizone (territory occupied by the US and UK) was reduced to 1014 calories daily. The low caloric intake was another reason for the decline in industrial production. In response to the ration change, weekly coal production dropped to well under half of the 1936 level. [4] The winter of 1946–47 was especially bitter and resulted in a poor harvest and a jump in unemployment, exacerbating the situation further. In Berlin, prices rose for basic goods like coal lighters (100%), soap (833%), and candles (2500-4000%). Food prices on the black market were often higher than the legal prices by a factor of more than 100. In Berlin, many prices were posted in Reichsmarks but would only be sold through bartering. [5] One significant example of an alternate means of exchange at the time was the 'cigarette currency' (the "Ami"). In this case, 7 RM constituted about one cigarette. [6]
Despite efforts of the Allied Control Council (ACC) to establish a new, universal currency for all four zones of occupation, the members of the council were unable to come to an agreement due to conflicts over the assignment of authority over the reform.
On June 20, 1948, the British Government published British Military Government Law No. 61 in the Military Government Gazette (Amtsblatt der Militärregierung), the official publication for legal and public announcements in West Germany from 1946 to 1990. [7] British Military Government Law No. 61 was instrumental in the process of replacing the Reichsmark with the Deutschmark, since it spread the news to the German public about how this new currency was to be inplemented. As part of the Western Allies’ coordinated efforts, this law set the framework for implementing the currency reform in the British-occupied zone, addressing critical issues like the distribution of the new Deutschmark and the removal of excess currency from circulation. [8]
Multiple key provisions were outlined for the German public, in particular the plan for the initial distribution of the new currency. Article I of the Law outlined the currencies recognized as legal tender in West Germany, specifying that the Allied Military Mark and Rentenbank notes would be devalued to one-tenth of their former value. Additionally, these currencies were set to lose their status as legal tender two months after the law's enactment, ensuring a clear transition to the new Deutschmark. [9] Furthermore, under Article VI of the Law, each West German (Trizone) resident received an initial sum of 40 DM as start-up money, followed by a second installment of 20 DM, ensuring that all citizens had access to the new currency regardless of prior cash assets. [9]
The reform began with an immediate cash infusion that was issued to individuals and the public sector, a conversion of all RM cash holdings to DM, and the establishment of the DM as the only legal means of payment. To alleviate the excessive money supply, the conversion to DM reduced all cash holdings and bank accounts to 6.5% of their Reichsmark denominations, and the money supply was limited to a total of DM 10 billion with a possible increase to 11 billion with administrative approval. [4]
The most immediate effect of the currency reform was the sudden availability of retail products on store shelves. Though the increase in production was quick in coming, it was not fast enough to explain the sudden relative abundance of goods – at first it was primarily the result of the black market dissolving and the stocks of contraband held there entering the open market. In some fields of industry production was nearly at prewar levels by November 1948. [4]
Coincidentally, the reform was accompanied by a climatic improvement after the severe winter of 1946/47, with abundant harvests in the agricultural year 1948-49. The good weather, augmented by record usage of fertilizer and improved efforts on the part of the farmers, resulted in a harvest that dramatically exceeded expectations. The improvement was compounded by the currency reform, as farmers had a stable currency with which to hire labor, buy equipment, and acquire fertilizers to work their fields. Although this did not eliminate the necessity for the importation of food, it represented progress, since the agricultural center of Germany had been in the East. [10] The existence of a trusted currency also made international trade more viable, enabling West Germany to import additional food.
In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as they usually switch to more stable foreign currencies. Effective capital controls and currency substitution ("dollarization") are the orthodox solutions to ending short-term hyperinflation; however there are significant social and economic costs to these policies. Ineffective implementations of these solutions often exacerbate the situation. Many governments choose to attempt to solve structural issues without resorting to those solutions, with the goal of bringing inflation down slowly while minimizing social costs of further economic shocks.
The Deutsche Mark, abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" ( ), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically called the "Deutschmark". One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 pfennigs.
The Deutsche Bundesbank is the German member of the Eurosystem and has been the monetary authority for Germany from 1957 to 1998, issuing the Deutsche Mark (DM). It succeeded the Bank deutscher Länder, which had introduced the DM on 20 June 1948.
The East German mark, commonly called the eastern mark in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only Mark, was the currency of the German Democratic Republic. Its ISO 4217 currency code was DDM. The currency was known officially as the Deutsche Mark from 1948 to 1964, Mark der Deutschen Notenbank from 1964 to 1967, and from 1968 to 1990 as the Mark der DDR. The mark (M) was divided into 100 Pfennig (pf).
The mark was a currency or unit of account in many states. It is named for the mark unit of weight. The word mark comes from a merging of three Germanic words, Latinised in 9th-century post-classical Latin as marca, marcha, marha or marcus. It was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout Europe and often equivalent to 8 troy ounces (250 g). Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages.
The Bizone or Bizonia was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones on 1 January 1947 during the occupation of Germany after World War II. With the addition of the French occupation zone on 1 August 1948 the entity became the Trizone. Later, on 23 May 1949, the Trizone became the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly known as West Germany.
The Romanian leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani, a word that also means "money" in the Romanian language.
Austerity in Israel was the policy of austerity imposed in the State of Israel from 1949 to 1959. It included rationing and other emergency measures to weather the economic crisis in the early days of statehood.
The Reichsmark was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replaced by the Deutsche Mark, to become the currency of West Germany and then all of Germany after the 1990 reunification. The Reichsmark was used in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany until 23 June 1948, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig. The Mark is an ancient Germanic weight measure, traditionally a half pound, later used for several coins; Reich comes from the official name for the German state from 1871 to 1945, Deutsches Reich.
The Reichsbank was the central bank of the German Empire from 1876 until the end of Nazi Germany in 1945.
The Rentenmark was a currency issued on 15 November 1923 to stop the hyperinflation of 1922 and 1923 in Weimar Germany, after the previously used Papiermark had become almost worthless. It was subdivided into 100 Rentenpfennig and was replaced in 1924 by the Reichsmark.
The Wirtschaftswunder, also known as the Miracle on the Rhine, was the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II. The expression referring to this phenomenon was first used by The Times in 1950.
Monetization is, broadly speaking, the process of converting something into money. The term has a broad range of uses. In banking, the term refers to the process of converting or establishing something into legal tender. While it usually refers to the coining of currency or the printing of banknotes by central banks, it may also take the form of a promissory currency. The term "monetization" may also be used informally to refer to exchanging possessions for cash or cash equivalents, including selling a security interest, charging fees for something that used to be free, or attempting to make money on goods or services that were previously unprofitable or had been considered to have the potential to earn profits. And data monetization refers to a spectrum of ways information assets can be converted into economic value.
The dinar was the currency of Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1920 in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was replaced by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The dinar was subdivided into 100 para.
The Saar franc was the French franc used as the official currency of the Saar during the times that the Saar territory was economically split off from Germany, in 1920–1935 as the Territory of the Saar Basin, in 1947–1957 as the Saar Protectorate and 1957–1959 as the state of Saarland in West Germany. Local notes and coins were issued during both periods, but the Saar franc was never legally an independent currency.
Hyperinflation affected the German Papiermark, the currency of the Weimar Republic, between 1921 and 1923, primarily in 1923. The German currency had seen significant inflation during the First World War due to the way in which the German government funded its war effort through borrowing, with debts of 156 billion marks by 1918. This national debt was substantially increased by 50 billion marks of reparations payable in cash and in-kind under the May 1921 London Schedule of Payments agreed after the Versailles treaty.
A black market, underground economy, shadow market or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services whose production and distribution are prohibited or restricted by law, non-compliance with the rule constitutes a black-market trade since the transaction itself is illegal. Such transactions include the illegal drug trade, prostitution, illegal currency transactions, and human trafficking.
The Soviet famine of 1946–1947 was a major famine in the Soviet Union that lasted from mid-1946 to the winter of 1947 to 1948. It was also the last major famine in Soviet history.
After World War II, many countries adopted policies of economic liberalization in order to stimulate their economies.
The monetary reform in the Soviet Union of 1947 was carried out during December 16–19, 1947. It was the second Soviet monetary reform. At the same time the post-World War II rationing system was discontinued. The reform was a combination of redenomination and confiscation, the latter depending on the amount exchanged and whether the monies were kept at the State Labor Savings Banks System of the USSR or not. Amounts under 3,000 Rbls in private bank accounts were not revalued while cash had to be exchanged 10:1 for new roubles. State bonds were exchanged as well, under more favourable to government (politburo) rules of denomination. The confiscative character was attributed to large amounts of counterfeit money produced by Nazi Germany, as well as to the desire to devalue the savings of the profiteers and enrich the government.