United Arab Emirates dirham

The United Arab Emirates dirham (Arabic: درهم إماراتي, sign: د.إ; code: AED), also known as simply the Emirati dirham, is the currency of the United Arab Emirates. The term dirham is officially abbreviated "AED", while unofficial abbreviations include "DH" or "Dhs.". The dirham is subdivided into 100 fils (فلس).

United Arab Emirates dirham
درهم إماراتي (in Arabic)
The front of a one dirham coin from the United Arab Emirates
ISO 4217
CodeAED
Denominations
Subunit
1100Fils (فلس)
Symbolد.إ
Banknotes
Freq. used5, 10, 50, 100, 500 dirhams
Rarely used20, 200, 1,000 dirhams
Coins
Freq. used25 fils, 50 fils, 1 dirham
Rarely used5 fils, 10 fils
Demographics
User(s) United Arab Emirates
Issuance
Central bankCentral Bank of the UAE
Websitewww.centralbank.ae
Valuation
Inflation2.5%
SourceThe World Factbook, 2011 est.
Pegged withUSD[1]
1 USD = 3.6725 AED

History

The name dirham is an Arabic word. 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 dirham, while in the other emirates, the Qatar and Dubai riyal was exchanged at par.

Coins

In 1973, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 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.

ImageValueTechnical parametersDescription
Obverse Reverse DiameterThicknessWeightEdge ShapeObverseReverse
فلس25 20 mm 1.5 mm 3.5 g Milled Circular A Gazelle facing left, with Hijri and Gregorian year of mint below. Lettering: "الامارات العربية المتحدة", below it "٢٥", below it "فلساً" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
فلس50 21 mm 1.7 mm 4.4 g Smooth Heptagon Three oil derricks, with Hijri and Gregorian year of mint below. Lettering: "الامارات العربية المتحدة", below it "٥۰", below it "فلساً" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"
د.إ1 24 mm 2 mm 6.1 g Milled Circular A Dallah, with Hijri and Gregorian year of mint below. Lettering: "الامارات العربية المتحدة", below it "١", below it "درهم" and below it "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES"

Issues with fraud

By August 2006 it became publicly known that the Philippine one peso coin is the same size as one dirham.[2] 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. A falcon watermark is present on all dirham notes to prevent fraud.

Banknotes

On 20 May 1973, the U.A.E. Currency Board introduced notes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 dirhams; a 1,000 dirham note was issued on 3 January 1976.[3] A second series of note was introduced in 1982 which omitted the 1 and 1000 dirham notes. 500 dirham notes were introduced in 1983, followed by 200 dirham in 1989. 1,000 dirham notes were reintroduced in 2000. Banknotes are currently available in denominations of 5 (brown), 10 (green), 20 (light blue), 50 (purple), 100 (pink), 200 (green/brown), 500 (navy blue) and 1,000 (greenish blue) dirhams.

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 come 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.[4] The United Arab Emirates Central Bank has released a new 50 dirham note. The security thread is a 3-mm wide, color-shifting windowed security thread with demetalized UAE 50, and it bears the new coat of arms which was adopted on 22 March 2008.

2003 series
ImageValueMain ColorDimensions (mm)Description
ObverseReverseObverseReverse
5د.إ Brown 143 × 60 Sharjah Central Souq also known as Islamic Souq, the Blue Souq or the central market Imam Salem Al Mutawa Mosque, which was formerly known as Al Jamaa mosque in Sharjah
10د.إ Green 147 × 62 A khanjar A pilot farm
20د.إ Blue 149 × 63 The front face of the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club Traditional trading dhow (called sama'a)
50د.إ Light Brown 151 × 64 an oryx Al Jahili Fort, a pre-Islamic fort in Al Ain
100د.إ Pink 155 × 66 Al Fahidi Fort Dubai World Trade Centre building
200د.إ Dark Yellow 157 × 67 the Zayed Sports City Stadium and the Sharia court building The Central Bank of the UAE building in Abu Dhabi
500د.إ Sky blue 159 × 68 Saker falcon The Jumeirah Mosque
1,000د.إ Brown 163 × 70 Qasr al-Hosn view of Abu Dhabi skyline

Exchange rates

On January 28, 1978, the dirham was officially pegged to the IMF's special drawing rights (SDRs).[5] In practice, it is pegged to the U.S. dollar for most of the time.[6] Since November 1997, the dirham has been pegged to the 1 U.S. dollar = 3.6725 dirhams,[7] which translates to approximately 1 dirham = 0.272294 dollar.

Current AED exchange rates
From Google Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR
From Yahoo! Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR
From XE.com: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR
From OANDA: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR
From fxtop.com: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR

Note: Rates obtained from these websites may contradict with pegged rate mentioned above

See also

References

  1. "Annual Report 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  2. Menon, Sunita (2006-08-01). "Hey presto! A Peso's as good as a Dirham". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 2014-09-14.
  3. Linzmayer, Owen (2012). "United Arab Emirates". The Banknote Book. San Francisco, CA: www.BanknoteNews.com.
  4. url="Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 7, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Dynamic Growth of the UAE Monetary and Banking Sector, Central Bank of the UAE Archived May 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Tables of modern monetary history: Asia Archived February 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Statistical Bulletin, Quarterly July – Sep. 2005, Central Bank of the UAE Vol. 25, No. 3
Preceded by:
Qatari and Dubai riyal
Location: Trucial States except for Abu Dhabi
Reason: formed United Arab Emirates (in 1971)
Ratio: at par
Currency of United Arab Emirates
1973
Succeeded by:
Current
Preceded by:
Bahraini dinar
Location: Abu Dhabi
Reason: formed United Arab Emirates (in 1971)
Ratio: 1 dirham = 0.1 dinar
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