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20 Cents Foreign Exchange Certificate; small size
| Issuer | Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A. (Bank Pekao S.A.), Warsaw |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
| Type | Exchange certificates |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Cream-toned paper with repeated "0.20" and dollar-sign underprint pattern. A dark blue circular guilloche medallion bearing "0.20 $" is positioned at left. The central text panel carries the non-redeemability clause in Polish, with a circular cancellation stamp visible at right. |
| Reverse lettering | BONY TOWAROWE BANKU POLSKA KASA OPIEKI S.A. NIE PODLEGAJĄ UMORZENIU I W ZAMIAN BONÓW UTRACONYCH NIE WYDAJE SIĘ DOKUMENTÓW ZASTĘPCZYCH |
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| Comments |
Bank Pekao's foreign exchange certificates were a deliberate instrument of socialist Poland's hunger for hard currency. Issued to Poles receiving remittances from relatives abroad — primarily from the United States and West Germany — the certificates allowed the state to capture those dollars and deutschmarks at the official rate while giving recipients scrip redeemable only at Pewex, the state-run hard currency retail chain. Pewex stores stocked Western goods unavailable anywhere else: Levi's, whisky, electronics. The certificates thus functioned as both a currency control mechanism and a rationing tool dressed up as a privilege.
The 1979 series coincided with Poland's deepening debt crisis; hard currency inflows from the diaspora had become economically critical by that point.