New headquarters for Europe's newest Central Bank

The country issues its own currency, called the PMR Ruble. Now its Central Bank has new headquarters in Tiraspol.

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - It bills itself as Europe's newest country. And now the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR) has a brand new Central Bank building to go with it. The Central Bank, which just opened the doors to its brand new headquarters in Tiraspol, the capital of the unrecognized republic, hopes to find itself in the company of the rest of the world's central banks soon, and its new building has been constructed with that goal in mind.

Sporting more than 40,000 square feet of tightly secured bank space, the Central Bank building compares favorably with other institutions of the same kind in many other countries in the world. This will come in handy when, as many in the banking institution expect, the country becomes recognized and integrated as a worthy partner in the international community.

A total of 225 employees work in the Central Bank. The new headquarters has two inhouse restaurants for guests and staff, as well as a large conference hall - seating 144 - and winter gardens. It features an integrated security and surveillance system. In the construction, which lasted three years, more than 100 kilometers of cabling was used: Enough to reach half of length of Pridnestrovie.

Issues its own national currency

PMR has its own money, the PMR Ruble, issued by the country's Central Bank. Monetary reserves are stored partly with partnering banks abroad and partly in the new 136 square meter vault, secure inside the Tiraspol-based Central Bank.

The Central Bank issues both coins, known as Kopeks, and its own full Ruble bank notes. The currency is convertible with US dollars, Euros, and other currencies at a freely floating exchange rates. The Central Bank maintains settlements accounts internationally and the currency is fully convertible. Exchange rates are posted daily by the Central Bank and by all major banks in the country, as well as in the pages of The Tiraspol Times and other newspapers.

Coins in Pridnestrovie are known as Kopeks. There are 100 Kopeks to the Ruble. PMR Kopek coins come in sizes from 1 to 50. Ruble bills come in sizes from 1 to 500.

Pridnestrovie's own currency was introduced in 1992, a year and a half after the country declared independence on 2 September 1990. Pridnestrovie is also known internationally as Transdniester, an informal name in English, and as Transnistria, its unofficial Romanian name. Despite meeting all the requirements for statehood under internatinal law, an unresolved territorial claim with neighboring Moldova has so far kept it from achieving international recognition and full integration in the international community. The country is home to a little over 550,000 people, approximately twice the size of Iceland.

From a central location deep inside the Central Bank, security staff monitors a bank of surveillance cameras spanning all areas of the tightly secured facility.

Start-date: October 2003
Inauguration: October 2006

Electrical engineering: Legrand (France)
Cabling: REM (Switzerland)
AV installation: Bosch (Germany)
Data networking: Quasar-Micro (Ukraine)
IT components: Richel & Massari (Switzerland)

Total area: 3,820 m²
Vault area: 136 m²
Conference center capacity: 144 participants
Dining rooms: 2
Offices: 92
Employees: 225

On the web:
» PMR Central Bank (official site)