Bulgaria and the euro Bulgaria and the euro Bulgaria committed to switching its currency, the lev, to the euro upon its joining the European Union in 2007, as stated in its EU accession treaty. The transition will occur once the country meets all the euro convergence criteria; it currently meets three of the five criteria, the exception being its membership for at least two years of the EU's official exchange rate mechanism (ERM II), which it has not yet joined despite the Bulgarian lev having been pegged to the euro since its introduction in 1999. In 2011 Bulgaria's Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov stated
Ora (currency) Ora (currency) The Ora (symbol:Φ, ) is the local currency of Orania, an Afrikaner enclave in South Africa. It is pegged at par with the South African rand. The name, recalling that of the town where it circulates, derives from Latin "aurum", meaning "gold". The currency is not sanctioned by the South African Reserve Bank. The first notes were issued in April 2004 to provide an internal currency for Orania as part of its quest for self-determination. The idea of the Ora originated in 2002, when Professor Johan van Zyl argued that a community that intended to empower itself should