Mandatory Audit Visit of IMO - IMSAS Member States

The Romanian currency is called ‘leu’. Leu means lion and has an interesting history. During the 17th century, Romania was using the Dutch currency called löwenthaler that has a lion on it. When Romanians created their own currency, they decided to call it leu.

Banknotes exist for 500, 200, 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1 leu. Coins exist for 50, 20, 10, 5, 1 ban (1 ban = 0.01 leu). You can see how they look on the National Bank’s website.

A source of confusion with the currency lies in its recent history. The currency was denominated a few years ago, which is a fancy word for saying that we cut 4 zeroes from all currency. If you hear someone talking about amounts like ‘one million lei’, it’s most likely it means 100 lei in today’s money. Same for 10.000 lei and 1 leu, 100.000 lei and 10 lei, 500.000 lei and 50 lei, 50.000 lei and 5 lei. The currency code has also changed; the old one was ROL (Romanian Leu) while the new one is RON (Romanian New leu). Prices are nowadays displayed in RON, but sometimes the ROL price will also be displayed.