# Introduction to Zend_Currency

Zend_Currency is part of the strong support for I18n in Zend Framework. It handles all issues related to currency, money representation, formatting, exchange services and calculation.

## Why should you use Zend_Currency?

Zend_Currency offers you the following benefit:

- Complete Locale support

  This component works with all available locales and therefore knows about more than 100 different localized currencies. This includes informations like currency names, abbreviations, money signs and much more.

- Reusable Currency Definitions

  Zend_Currency has the advantage that already defined currency representations can be reused. You could also have 2 different representations for the same currency.

- Currency calculation

  Zend_Currency allows you also to calculate with currency values. Therefore, it provides you an interface to exchange services.

- Additional Methods

  Zend_Currency includes several additional methods that offer detailed informations about currencies like which currency is used within a defined region and what are the known abbreviations of a currency.