This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.
A passbook issued before the official adoption of prutot, and denominated in pounds and mils
The pound or lira (Hebrew: לירה ישראליתLira Yisra'elit, Arabic: جنيه إسرائيليJunayh ʾIsrāʾīlī; abbreviation: IL[1] in Latin, ל"י in Hebrew; code ILP) was the currency of the State of Israel from 9 June 1952 until 23 February 1980. The Israeli pound replaced the Palestine pound and was initially pegged at par to £1sterling. It was replaced by the shekel on 24 February 1980, at the rate of IS1 = IL10, which was in turn replaced by the new shekel in 1985.
Before the new currency was brought in, the Anglo-Palestine Bank issued banknotes denominated in Palestine pounds. They were in Hebrew לירה א״י (lira E.Y. i.e. lira Eretz-Yisraelit) and Arabicjunayh filisṭīnī (جنيه فلسطيني).[2]
On 1 May 1951, all the assets and liabilities of the Anglo Palestine Bank were transferred to a new company called Bank Leumi Le-Yisrael (Israel National Bank) and the currency name became: lira yisraelit (לירה ישראלית) in Hebrew, junayh ʾisrāʾīlī in Arabic, and Israeli pound in English.[3] The new currency was issued in 1952, and entered circulation on June 9. From 1955, after the Bank of Israel was established and took over the duty of issuing banknotes, only the Hebrew name was used.[4]
The British Mandate of Palestine was created in 1918. In 1927 the Palestine Currency Board, established by the British authorities, and subject to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, issued the Palestine pound (£P) which was legal tender in Mandate Palestine and Transjordan. £P1 was fixed at exactly £1sterling. It was divided into 1,000 mils.
The Mandate came to an end on 14 May 1948, but the Palestine pound continued in circulation until new currencies replaced it. In Israel, the Palestine pound continued in circulation until the Israeli pound was adopted in 1952. The Israeli pound was subdivided into 1,000 prutot. The Israeli pound retained the Palestine pound's sterling peg. In August 1948, new banknotes were issued by the London-based Anglo-Palestine Bank, owned by the Jewish Agency.
The new coins were the first to bear the new state's name, and the banknotes had "The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited" written on them. While the first coins minted by Israel were still denominated in "mils", the next ones bore the Hebrew name prutah (Hebrew: פרוטה). A second series of banknotes was issued after the Anglo-Palestine Bank moved its headquarters to Tel Aviv and became the Bank Leumi (Hebrew: בנק לאומי "National Bank"). The peg to sterling was abolished on 1 January 1954, and in 1960, the subdivision of the pound was changed from 1,000 prutot to 100 agorot (singular agora, Hebrew: אגורה ,אגורות).
Because lira (Hebrew: לִירָה) was a loanword from Latin, a debate emerged in the 1960s over the name of the Israeli currency due to its non-Hebrew origins. This resulted in a law ordering the Minister of Finance to change the name from lira to the Hebrew name shekel (Hebrew: שקל). The law allowed the minister to decide on the date for the change. The law came into effect in February 1980, when the Israeli government introduced the 'Israeli shekel' (now called old Israeli shekel), at a rate of IL10 = IS1. On 1 January 1986, the old shekel was replaced by the Israeli new shekel at a ratio of IS1,000:₪1.
Coins
Israel's first coins were aluminium 25 mil pieces, dated 1948 and 1949, which were issued in 1949 before the adoption of the pruta. Later in 1949, coins were issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 prutah. The coins were conceived, in part, by Israeli graphic designer Otte Wallish.
All coins and banknotes issued in Israel before June 1952 were part of the Palestine pound.
In 1960, coins were issued denominated in agora. There were 1, 5, 10 and 25 agorot pieces. In 1963, IL1⁄2 and IL1 coins were introduced, followed by IL5 coins in 1978.
In 1948, the government issued fractional notes for 50 and 100 mils. The Anglo-Palestine Bank issued banknotes for 500 mils, 1, 5, 10 and 50 pounds between 1948 and 1951. In 1952, the government issued a second series of fractional notes for 50 and 100 prutah with 250 prutah notes added in 1953. Also in 1952, the "Bank Leumi Le-Israel" took over paper money production and issued the same denominations as the Anglo-Palestine Bank except that the 500 mils was replaced by a 500 prutah note.
The Bank of Israel began note production in 1955, also issuing notes for 500 prutah, IL1, IL5, IL10 and IL50. In 1968, IL100 notes were introduced, followed by IL500 notes in 1975.
The new Israeli shekel, also known as simply the Israeli shekel, is the currency of Israel and is also used as a legal tender in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The new shekel is divided into 100 agorot. The new shekel has been in use since 1 January 1986, when it replaced the hyperinflated old shekel at a ratio of 1000:1.
The Jordanian dinar has been the currency of Jordan since 1950. The dinar is divided into 10 dirhams, 100 qirsh or 1000 fulus. It is pegged to the US dollar.
The Syrian pound or lira is the currency of Syria. It is issued by the Central Bank of Syria. The pound is nominally divided into 100 piastres, although piastre coins are no longer issued.
The lira or pound was the currency of Malta from 1972 until 31 December 2007. One lira was divided into 100 cents, each of 10 mils. After 1986 the lira was abbreviated as Lm, although the original £M sign continued to be used unofficially. In English the currency was still frequently called the pound even after its official English language name was changed to lira.
The pound, or lira, was the currency of Cyprus, including the Sovereign Base Areas in Akrotiri and Dhekelia, from 1879 to 2007, when the Republic of Cyprus adopted the euro. However, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus uses the Turkish lira as its official currency.
The Bank of Israel is the central bank of Israel. The bank's headquarters is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Amir Yaron.
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. As with other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.
The pound is the official currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 piastres, or ersh, or 1,000 milliemes.
The agora is a denomination of the currency of Israel. The Israeli currency – the new Israeli shekel (NIS)– is divided into 100 agorot.
The pound is the currency of Jersey. Jersey is in currency union with the United Kingdom, and the Jersey pound is not a separate currency but is an issue of banknotes and coins by the States of Jersey denominated in sterling, in a similar way to the banknotes issued in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It can be exchanged at par with other sterling coinage and notes.
The pound is the currency of the Atlantic islands of Saint Helena and Ascension, which are constituent parts of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It is fixed at parity with sterling, and so both currencies are commonly accepted and circulated within Saint Helena. It is subdivided into 100 pence.
The pound is the currency of the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. The symbol is the pound sign, £. The ISO 4217 currency code is FKP.
The old Israeli shekel, then known as the shekel was the currency of the State of Israel between 24 February 1980 and 31 December 1985. It was replaced by the Israeli new shekel at a ratio of 1,000:1 on 1 January 1986. The old shekel was short-lived due to its hyperinflation. The old shekel was subdivided into 100 new agorot. The shekel sign was although it was more commonly denominated as S or IS.
The Libyan pound was the currency of Libya between 1951 and 1971. It was divided into 100 piastres and 1000 milliemes (مليم).
The pound was the currency of Southern Rhodesia from 1964 to 1965 and Rhodesia from 1965 until 1970. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.
The 10 agorot controversy refers to a conspiracy theory promoted by Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat's appearance at a specially convened session of the UN Security Council in Geneva on 25 May 1990. At the session Arafat claimed that the obverse design of an Israeli ten agorot coin showed a map of "Greater Israel" that represented Zionist expansionist goals.
The Palestine pound (Arabic: جُنَيْه فِلَسْطَينِيّ, junayh filastini; Hebrew: (פוּנְט פַּלֶשְׂתִינָאִי (א״י, funt palestina'i or (לירה was the currency of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1 November 1927 to 14 May 1948, and of the State of Israel between 15 May 1948 and 23 June 1952, when it was replaced with the Israeli lira. The Palestine pound was also the currency of Transjordan until 1949 when it was replaced by the Jordanian dinar, and remained in usage in the West Bank of Jordan until 1950. In the Gaza Strip, the Palestine pound continued to circulate until April 1951, when it was replaced by the Egyptian pound.
The pound was the currency of Southern Rhodesia. It also circulated in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The pound was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.
The pound or lira is the currency of Lebanon. It was formerly divided into 100 piastres but because of high inflation during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) the use of subunits was discontinued.
Prutah is a Hebrew term, possibly derived from Aramaic. It refers to a small denomination coin.
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Israel (1952–1980)
