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Currency history

Maltese pound / lira

Dates in use
Introduction and ending not established
Ancestry branch
Sterling

Its place in the family

All ancestors and descendants ↗
Maltese pound / lira: documented and qualified family connections PARENTS THIS CURRENCY CHILDREN Pound sterlingPound sterling 1949–1968 · DocumentedDocumented connection · 1949–1968 Maltese pound / liraMaltese pound / lira Currency history Later adoption · see history below

Parents 1

Maltese pound / lira

This currency

Children 0

Later adoption of an existing currency is explained below.

Trace its ancestry backward

Roman as–denarius accounting

Earlier as reckoning; denarius introduced c. 211 BC; accounts continue into late antiquity

Earlier ancestry is not established here.

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The story

Malta decimalized while retaining the pound as its unit. [1]

Replacement by an existing currency

This conversion belongs to the history of the retiring unit. It does not make that unit an ancestor of the currency adopted.

Turning points

Malta pound is the existing principal statutory unit; decimalization changes…

Malta pound is the existing principal statutory unit; decimalization changes subdivisions and covered contract/account fractions. [2]

Currency rename

Maltese pound was renamed Maltese lira. [3]

Euro monetary substitution

1 EUR = 0.429300 MTL. Malta: euro adoption January 1, 2008; cash January 1, 2008. Regulation 974/98 substitutes the euro for each participating state’s currency on its adoption date; cash changeover is separately defined. [4] [5] [6]

Euro cash changeover

Malta: euro adoption January 1, 2008; cash January 1, 2008. [5]

Sources and evidence

  1. Central Bank of Malta · A Brief History of the Central Bank of Malta
  2. Parliament of Malta · Central Bank of Malta (Amendment No2) Act, XX of 1971
  3. Deutsche Bundesbank · Metadata on the Exchange Rate Statistics, 24 September 2025
  4. Council of the European Union · Council Regulation (EC) 2866/98 — consolidation at 1 January 2026
  5. Council of the European Union · Council Regulation (EC) 974/98 — consolidation at 1 January 2026
  6. Council of the European Union · Council Regulation (EC) 974/98 — consolidation at 1 January 2026

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Cite this page

“Maltese pound / lira.” The Family Tree of Money. © Field Technologies, Inc. Updated 2026-10-13; data version v44. https://familytreeofmoney.org/currency/T-FTM000801.html

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