pengar

Pengar is the Swedish term for money. In everyday use it refers to a medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value that is widely accepted for payments within an economy.

Money exists in physical and digital forms. Physical money includes coins and banknotes issued by a country’s central bank or monetary authority. Digital money encompasses bank deposits, electronic transfers, card payments, online wallets and other electronic payment methods. In many economies, much of daily commerce occurs electronically.

The main functions of pengar are to facilitate trade, provide a common measure of value and enable saving and future purchases. As a unit of account, prices are expressed in monetary terms; as a store of value, money allows households and firms to defer consumption. The liquidity of money supports efficient markets and financial planning.

History and policy: Money began as commodity money and evolved into coinage, followed by fiat money backed by trust rather than physical assets. Modern monetary systems rely on central banks to issue currency and manage the money supply and interest rates, with the aim of price stability, employment and financial system resilience.

Etymology and regional context: In Swedish, pengar is the plural noun for money, with cognates in neighboring languages (penger in Norwegian, penge in Danish). The official currency of Sweden is the krona (SEK); pengarna function as a general term alongside the formal monetary system.