United Arab Emirates Dirham

The dirham is the currency of the United Arab Emirates .

The ISO 4217 code (currency abbreviation) for the United Arab Emirates Dirham is AED. Unofficial abbreviations include DH or Dhs.

The United Arab Emirates dirham is pegged to the United States Dollar at a value of approximately $0.272 per dirham.

HISTORY

The United Arab Emirates dirham was introduced in 1973 . It replaced the Qatar And Dubai Riyal at par. The Qatar and Dubai riyal had circulated since 1966 in all of the emirates except Abu Dhabi , which had used the Bahraini Dinar . Before 1966 , all the emirates that were to form the United Arab Emirates used the Gulf Rupee .

COINS

Coins are available in denominations of 1 Dirham and 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 Fils. 100 Fils equals 1 Dirham. The value and numbers on the coins are written in Arabic script and the text is in Arabic . The 1, 5 and 10 Fils-Coins are rarely used in everyday life, so all amounts will be rounded up or down to the nearest 25-Fils. The 1 Fils-Coin is a rarity and is not largely circulated. In making 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.

Commemorative Coins

Since 1976 the Central Bank Of The United Arab Emirates has minted several commemorative coins. These coins celebrate different events and rulers of the United Arab Emirates .

BANKNOTES

Banknotes are available in the following denominations: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 dirhams. The obverse is written in Arabic with numbers in Arabic script; the reverse is in English with numbers in Latin script. The 20 and 200 dirhams denominations are scarce. The government stopped printing the 200 dirham notes in 1989; any circulating today come from bank stocks.

EXTERNAL LINKS

Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates Commemorative Coins

Information About

United Arab Emirates Dirham