Currency of the United Arab Emirates
Emirati dirham
???? ???????
(
Arabic
)
|
---|
Obverse of an Emirati one dirham coin
|
|
Code
| AED (numeric:
784
)
|
---|
Subunit
| 0.01
|
---|
|
Symbol
| ?.?
in
Arabic
Dh/Dhs
or
DH
in
Latin
|
---|
|
Subunit
| |
---|
1
⁄
100
| fils
(
???
)
|
---|
Banknotes
| Dhs5, Dhs10, Dhs20, Dhs50, Dhs100, Dhs200, Dhs500, Dhs1,000
|
---|
Coins
| |
---|
Freq. used
| 25, 50 fils, Dh1
|
---|
Rarely used
| 1, 5, 10 fils
|
---|
|
Date of introduction
| 1973
|
---|
User(s)
| United Arab Emirates
|
---|
|
Central bank
| Central Bank of the UAE
|
---|
Website
| www
.centralbank
.ae
/en
/
|
---|
|
Inflation
| 2.5%
|
---|
Source
| The World Factbook
, 2011 est.
|
---|
Pegged with
| USD
[1]
US$1 = Dhs 3.6725
|
---|
The
Arab Emirates Dirham
(
;
[2]
Arabic
:
???? ???????
,
abbreviation
:
?.?
in
Arabic
,
Dh
(singular) and
Dhs
(plural) or
DH
in
Latin
;
ISO code
:
AED
is the official currency of the
United Arab Emirates
. The dirham is subdivided into 100
fils
(???)
. It is pegged to the
United States Dollar
at a constant exchange rate of approximately 3.67 AED to 1 USD.
History
[
edit
]
The name
dirham
is a loan from the Greek
δραχμ?
(drakhme). Due to centuries of trade and usage of the currency,
dirham
survived through the
Ottoman Empire
.
Before 1966, all the emirates that now form the UAE used the
Gulf rupee
, which was pegged at parity to the
Indian rupee
. On 6 June 1966, India decided to devalue the Gulf rupee against the Indian rupee. Not accepting the devaluation, several of the states still using the Gulf rupee adopted their own or other currencies. All the
Trucial States
except
Abu Dhabi
adopted the
Qatar and Dubai riyal
, which was equal to the Gulf rupee prior to the devaluation. These emirates briefly adopted the
Saudi riyal
during the transition from the Gulf rupee to the Qatar and Dubai riyal.
Abu Dhabi
used the
Bahraini dinar
, at a rate of 10 Gulf rupees = 1 dinar. In 1973, the UAE adopted the UAE dirham as its currency.
Abu Dhabi
adopted the UAE dirham in place of the Bahraini dinar, at 1 dinar = 10 dirhams, while in the other emirates, the Qatar and Dubai riyal were exchanged at par.
Coins
[
edit
]
In 1973, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 fils and 1 dirham. The 1, 5, and 10 fils are struck in bronze, with the higher denominations in
cupro-nickel
. The fils coins were the same size and composition as the corresponding Qatar and Dubai dirham coins. In 1995, the 5 fils, 10 fils, 50 fils, and 1 dirham coins were reduced in size, with the new 50 fils being curve-equilateral-heptagonal shaped.
The value and numbers on the coins are written in
Eastern Arabic numerals
and the text is in
Arabic
. The 1, 5, and 10 fils coins are rarely used in everyday life, so all amounts are rounded up or down to the nearest multiples of 25 fils. The 1 fils coin is a rarity and does not circulate significantly. In making a change there is a risk of confusing the old 50 fils coin for the modern 1 dirham coin because the coins are almost the same size.
Since 1976 the
Currency Board of the United Arab Emirates
has minted several
commemorative coins
celebrating different events and rulers of the
United Arab Emirates
. For details, see
Commemorative coins of the United Arab Emirates dirham
.
Image
|
Value
|
Technical parameters
|
Description
|
Obverse
|
Reverse
|
Diameter
|
Thickness
|
Weight
|
Edge
|
Shape
|
Obverse
|
Reverse
|
|
|
1 fils
|
15 mm
|
1.1 mm
|
1.5 g
|
Smooth
|
Circular
|
Three date palms at the center with the lettering "
?????? ????? ???????? ????????
" above and the
Lunar Hijri
and
Gregorian
year of mint below.
|
Lettering: "
???????? ??????? ???????
", below it "
?
", below it "
???
" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
|
|
|
5 fils
|
19 mm
|
1.65 mm
|
2.9 g
|
Smooth
|
Circular
|
A
Lethrinus nebulous
at the center with the lettering "
????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????
" above and the
Lunar Hijri
and
Gregorian
year of mint below.
|
Lettering: "
???????? ??????? ???????
", below it "
?
", below it "
????
" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
|
|
|
10 fils
|
17 mm
|
1.2 mm
|
2.2 g
|
Smooth
|
Circular
|
A
dhow
with the
Lunar Hijri
and
Gregorian
year of mint below.
|
Lettering: "
???????? ??????? ???????
", below it "
??
", below it "
????
" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
|
|
|
25 fils
|
20 mm
|
1.5 mm
|
3.5 g
|
Milled
|
Circular
|
A Gazelle facing left with the
Lunar Hijri
and
Gregorian
year of mint below.
|
Lettering: "
???????? ??????? ???????
", below it "
??
", below it "
?????
" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
|
|
|
50 fils
|
21 mm
|
1.7 mm
|
4.4 g
|
Smooth
|
Heptagon
|
Three
oil derricks
with the
Lunar Hijri
and
Gregorian
year of mint below.
|
Lettering: "
???????? ??????? ???????
", below it "
??
", below it "
?????
" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
|
|
|
Dh 1
|
24 mm
|
2 mm
|
6.1 g
|
Milled
|
Circular
|
A
Dallah
with the
Lunar Hijri
and
Gregorian
year of mint below.
|
Lettering: "
???????? ??????? ???????
", below it "
?
", below it "
????
" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
|
Issues with fraud
[
edit
]
By August 2006 it became publicly known that the
Philippine one peso
coin is the same size as one dirham.
[3]
As 1 peso is only worth 8 fils, this has led to
vending machine fraud in the UAE
.
Pakistan's 5 rupee coin
, the
Omani 50 Baisa coin
and the
Moroccan 1 dirham
are also the same sizes as the Emirati one dirham coin. Although 1 mm thinner, one dirham coin has also been found in ten-cent coin rolls in Australia. A falcon watermark is present on all dirham notes to prevent fraud.
Banknotes
[
edit
]
On 20 May 1973, the UAE Currency Board introduced notes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 dirhams; a Dhs 1,000 note was issued on 3 January 1976.
[4]
A second series of note was introduced in 1982 which omitted the Dh 1 and Dhs 1,000 notes. Dhs 500 notes were introduced in 1983, followed by Dhs 200 in 1989. Dhs 1,000 notes were reintroduced in 2000. Banknotes are currently available in denominations of Dhs 5 (brown), Dhs 10 (green), Dhs 20 (light blue), Dhs 50 (purple), Dhs 100 (pink), Dhs 200 (green/brown), Dhs 500 (navy blue) and Dhs 1,000 (greenish blue).
The obverse texts are written in
Arabic
with numbers in
Eastern Arabic numerals
; the reverse texts are in
English
with numbers in
Arabic numerals
. The 200 dirham denomination is scarce as it was only produced in 1989; any circulating today comes from bank stocks. The 200 dirham denomination has since been reissued and is now in circulation since late May 2008 ? it has been reissued in a different colour; Yellow/Brown to replace the older Green/Brown.
[5]
On 22 March 2008, The
Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates
released a Dhs 50 note. The security thread was a 3-mm wide, colour-shifting windowed security thread with demetalized UAE 50, and it bore the new coat of arms. On 7 December 2021, a redesigned polymer Dhs 50 note was released to commemorate the golden jubilee of the country on 2 December 2021, making it the UAE's first polymer banknote.
[6]
Additional new polymer banknotes of Dhs 5 and Dhs 10 were introduced on 21 April 2022,
[7]
with the Dhs 1000 released in the first half of 2023,
[8]
and the Dhs 500 note reportedly introduced on 30 November 2023.
[9]
Exchange rates
[
edit
]
On January 28, 1978, the dirham was officially pegged to the
IMF
's
special drawing rights
(SDRs).
[10]
In practice, it has been pegged to the
U.S. dollar
for most of the time.
[11]
Since November 1997, the dirham has been pegged to the US dollar at a rate of US$1 = Dhs 3.6725,
[12]
which translates to approximately Dh 1 = US$0.272294.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Annual Report 2014"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 5 April 2016
. Retrieved
14 June
2016
.
- ^
Stevenson, Angus (19 August 2010).
Oxford Dictionary of English
. OUP Oxford. p. 496.
ISBN
978-0-19-957112-3
.
- ^
Menon, Sunita (1 August 2006).
"Hey presto! A Peso's as good as a Dirham"
. gulfnews.com
. Retrieved
14 September
2014
.
- ^
Linzmayer, Owen (2012). "United Arab Emirates".
The Banknote Book
. San Francisco, CA: www.BanknoteNews.com.
- ^
url=
"Gulfnews: New Dh200 note to be issued in the UAE"
. Archived from
the original
on 7 December 2008
. Retrieved
27 June
2008
.
- ^
Forster, Sarah (7 December 2021).
"UAE leaders attend launch of new Dh50 banknote"
. The National News. The National News.
Archived
from the original on 9 December 2021
. Retrieved
9 December
2021
.
- ^
UAE Central Bank
- ^
Web Desk.
"UAE Central Bank issues new Dh1,000 banknote for National Day"
.
Khaleej Times
. Retrieved
3 December
2022
.
- ^
"United Arab Emirates new 500-dirham polymer note (B250a) reportedly introduced on 30.11.2023 ? BanknoteNews"
. 30 November 2023
. Retrieved
17 December
2023
.
- ^
Dynamic Growth of the UAE Monetary and Banking Sector, Central Bank of the UAE
Archived
May 12, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Tables of modern monetary history: Asia
Archived
February 19, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Statistical Bulletin, Quarterly July ? Sep. 2005, Central Bank of the UAE
Archived
2011-08-15 at the
Wayback Machine
Vol. 25, No. 3
External links
[
edit
]
Currencies of Asia
|
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