Einars Repše During this period, he oversaw the introduction of the Latvian rublis, Latvia's temporary transition currency, and the Lats, independent Latvia's new currency. Under Repše, the Bank of Latvia pursued a tight monetary policy, implementing a de facto currency board for the Lats. As a result, the exchange rate of the lat has been stable since the early 1990s till now. The success of the Lats made Repše very popular in Latvia. In 2001, Repše resigned from the Bank of Latvia to return to politics. He founded the New Era Party, a Populist anti-corruption party. After the 2002 elections, Repše became
Latvian lats and 50 santīmu were nickel, while coins of 1 lats and above were in silver, with a purity of 83,5 percent. The Latvian Bank issued notes from 1922 in denominations of 20, 25, 50, 100 and 500 latu. They also issued 10 latu notes which were 500 rubli notes overprinted with the new denomination. The government issued currency notes from 1925 in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 latu. The lats was reintroduced on 5 March 1993, replacing the Latvian rublis, which continued to circulate and kept validity until and including 30 June 1994 at a rate of 200 rubļu