For the first time in 17 years North Korea dramatically increased rate of national currency

The DPRK conducted denomination of national currency at a ratio of 100:1. Such a measure is undertaken in the country for the first time in 17 years. According to reports, the exchange of new banknotes began in North Korea on Monday at approximately two o’clock, local time. According to some denomination has caused confusion among the citizens. Many try to change their accumulation in the Chinese yuan and U.S. dollars on the black market.

It is believed that the currency reform intended to improve the financial system after the DPRK conducted there in 2002, economic reforms, which largely caused the fall of the real exchange rate of national currency. Perhaps monetary reform is also intended to draw funds from the illegal economy, as well as the accumulation of nationals working abroad. Officially, the DPRK has not yet announced the denomination, the authorities in Seoul as its not officially confirmed, ITAR-TASS referring to the Japanese and South Korean media.

This is the first in the DPRK since 1992, a revaluation of the North Korean won, but only since the inception of the DPRK in 1947, currency exchanges in the country at a scale of 1:1 were carried out four times. It is believed in Seoul, this step is mainly aimed at combating inflation, because after the timid economic reforms of 2002, designed to make the payment and the prices are more realistic, the national currency plummeted. Local experts have linked the decision of Pyongyang with a comprehensive nationwide campaign for the revival of the national economy by 2012, when North Korea will celebrate the centenary of the birth of the founder of the socialist state, Kim Il Sung.