Latvian lats being equivalent to 1 lats. The 5 lats banknote was introduced at first, and the last banknote to be introduced was the 500 lats banknote on 20 July 1998. The lats was replaced on 1 January 2014 by the Euro, at the rate of 0.702804 Lats to 1 Euro. The second lats can be exchanged to euros at the official rate at the Bank of Latvia's cashier's office in Riga. Coins were issued in denominations of 1 santīms, 2 and 5 santīmi, 10, 20 and 50 santīmu, 1 lats and 2 lati. Besides standard coins in the list below and
Currency mostly paper, but Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation developed the world's first polymer currency in the 1980s that went into circulation on the nation's bicentenary in 1988. Now used in some 22 countries (over 40 if counting commemorative issues), polymer currency dramatically improves the life span of banknotes and prevents counterfeiting. Currency use is based on the concept of lex monetae; that a sovereign state decides which currency it shall use. Currently, the International Organization for Standardization has introduced a three-letter system of codes (ISO 4217) to define currency (as opposed to simple names or currency signs), in