New Kyat (Burma Ascension)

The New Kyat is the official currency of the Kingdom of the Union of Myanmar. It uses the capitalized K as its representative monetary symbol which is placed before the amount. One kyat is divided into 100 pyas, following decimilisation in 1933.

There has been 4 historic Kyats in Myanmar. The first was the Peacock Kyat, introduced by King Mindon in 1852. It consisted only of coins, with denominations of 1 Pya (1/64 Kyat) 4 Pya (1/16), 8 Pya (1/8), 16 Pya (1/4), 1 Kyat and 5 Kyats. The currency took its name from the dancing peacock symbols which were stamped onto the coins.

The second Kyat was introduced in 1910, with the first printed banknotes. While the currency was referred to in Burmese by Kyat, it was officially termed Rupee in official English documents. The second kyat series consisted of 1 pya, 4 pya, 8 pya, 16 pya, 1 Kyat coins with banknotes with denominations of 5, 10 and 20 kyats. The coins continued to have the peacock emblem, with the banknotes containing the portrait of the then ruling monarch, Mahamingalaraja, known as Wunzin Min.

The Communist revolution of 1933 brought about decimilisation.

The fall of Communism in Myanmar in 1988 brought about the introduction of the 4th and current series of the Kyat.