The Romanian National Bank-BNR will launch a new, 200 RON (1 EUR=3,5 RON) banknote on December 1, BNR governor announced on Tuesday. Mugur Isarescu said the launch of the new bill was scheduled to coincide with the old Romanian currency (ROL, 1 RON=10,000 ROL) coming to its last days on the market and to celebrate both the National Day and the launch of the first post-Revolution coin of 10 ROL.

The new bill will bear the potrait of Romanian poet Lucian Blaga on one face and the Thinker of Hamangia, an ancient sculpture found on Romanian territory, on the other.

According to Isarescu, the new banknote was not launched with the official denomination of the Romanian currency on July 1 because there would have been too many new banknotes on the market and it did not have an equivalent in the old currency.

Starting January 1, 2007, the ROL banknotes and coins will be withdrawn from the market to leave room for the new RON currency exclusively.