Po 1871 m., kai susikūrė Vokietijos imperija, markė ... - Šiaulių bankas

17
The German army occupied Lithuania in
1915 and incorporated it into the Ober Ost.
In April 1916, a special Ost (East) currency
was issued – Eastern Credit Bank notes, also known
as ostrubles – which were declared the only legal
tender in Lithuania.
� e Eastern Trade and Industry Bank created an
Eastern Credit Bank in Poznan expressly for issuing
the notes. One ostruble was equivalent to ½ mark.
Ostrubles were printed in Berlin, with markings in
German, Lithuanian, Latvian and Polish. Ostrubles
circulated in Lithuania, Latvia, and parts of presentday
Poland and Belarus. Ostrubles were issued in
seven denominations – 0,2, 0,5, 1, 3, 10, 25, and 100.
� eir design was similar to Russian rubles, and they
were issued in the same denominations as rubles.
Ostmarkių averse
garantuojama,
kad ateityje Rytų
skolinamosios kasos
ženklai bus iškeisti į
reichsmarkes.
� e ostmark’s obverse
side bore treasury
inscriptions guaranteeing
that in future the Eastern
Credit Bank’s money would
be convertible to reichsmarks.
A� er the Supreme Council of Lithuania
declared independence on February
16, 1918, according to a deal between
Lithuania and Germany, the right
to issue money remained with the
Eastern Credit Bank, which was
reorganised into a separate credit
agency and moved to Kaunas. On
April 4, 1918 banknotes in eight
denominations were issued: 0,5, 1, 2,
5, 20, 50, 100 and 1,000 marks. On
February 26, 1919 the Lithuanian
government changed the currency’s
o� cial name: the ostmark became
the auksinas; the pfennig became
the skatikas. A� er the auksinas
became known as the litas, ostrubles
and ostmarks were exchangeable at a
rate of 175:1; and later on, according to
an exchange rate set by the government
each week, or even more frequently.
Neither the ostruble nor the
ostmark were backed by anything
of real value, which caused huge
losses for Lithuania.
Taking the advantage of the experience of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, Šiaulių bankas was the fi rst bank among
all the banks operating in the country to prepare its own micro-lending
programme, which has been successfully implemented for the seventh
year already.