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Iraqi dinar
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The dinar (pronounced: di-'när) (Arabic: ?????, Kurdish: ?????) (sign: ?.?; code: IQD) is the currency of Iraq. It is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq and is subdivided into 1,000 fils, although inflation has rendered the fils obsolete.
dinar was introduced into circulation in 1931, replacing the Indian rupee, which had been the official currency since the British occupation of the country in World War I, at a rate of 1 dinar = 13? rupees.
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Encyclopedia
The dinar (pronounced: di-'när) (Arabic: ?????, Kurdish: ?????) (sign: ?.?; code: IQD) is the currency of Iraq. It is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq and is subdivided into 1,000 fils, although inflation has rendered the fils obsolete.
History
The dinar was introduced into circulation in 1931, replacing the Indian rupee, which had been the official currency since the British occupation of the country in World War I, at a rate of 1 dinar = 13? rupees. The dinar was pegged at par with the British pound until 1959 when, without changing its value, the peg was switched to the United States dollar at the rate of 1 dinar = 2.8 dollars. By not following the devaluations of the U.S. currency in 1971 and 1973, the dinar rose to a value of US$3.3778, before a 5 percent devaluation reduced the value of the dinar to US$3.2169, a rate which remained until the Gulf War, although in late 1989, the black market rate was reported at five to six times higher (1.86 dinars for US$1) than the official rate.
After the Gulf War in 1991, and due to the economic blockade, the previously used Swiss printing technology was no longer available. A new, inferior quality notes issue was produced. The previous issue became known as the Swiss dinar and continued to circulate in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Due to excessive government printing of the new notes issue, the dinar devalued quickly, and in late 1995, US$1 was valued at 3,000 dinars.
Following the deposition of Saddam Hussein in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi Governing Council and the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance began printing more Saddam dinar notes as a stopgap measure to maintain the money supply until new currency could be introduced.
Between October 15, 2003 and January 15, 2004, the Coalition Provisional Authority issued new Iraqi dinar coins and notes, with the notes printed by De La Rue using modern anti-forgery techniques, to "create a single unified currency that is used throughout all of Iraq and will also make money more convenient to use in people’s everyday lives." Old banknotes were exchanged for new at a one-to-one rate, except for the Swiss dinars, which were exchanged at a rate of 150 new dinars for one Swiss dinar.
Although the value of the dinar appreciated following the introduction of the new banknotes from 4,000 dinars per U.S. dollar, at the time of their introduction, to a high of 980 dinars per dollar, it is now held at a "program" exchange rate, as specified by the International Monetary Fund, of 1170 . However, there is not yet a set international exchange rate and so international banks do not yet exchange Iraqi dinar. The exchange rate available on the streets of Iraq was around 1500 dinars per US dollar in April 2006.
Speculation
On May 3, 2007, the IMF released a statement in relation to the international compact with Iraq, which has turned the tide in regards to speculation on the Iraq dinar. The contents of the article discuss changes made in Iraq on the economic front of how the Iraq government had eliminated fuel subsidies. The article also stated that the Central Bank of Iraq had raised interest rates in an attempt to allow a gradual appreciation of the dinar in an attempt to fight dollarization of the Iraq economy. Although there are claims of wide-spread optimism of some language used later in the press release among some dinar speculators, there have been no publicly released statements or analysis by any news sources or governments.
Coins
Coins were introduced in 1931 and 1932 in denominations of 1, 2, 4, 10, 20, 50 and 200 fils, with the 200 fils known as a rial. The 20, 50 and 200 fils were minted in silver. In 1953, silver 100 fils coins were introduced.
Following the establishment of the Iraqi Republic, a new series of coins was introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 fils, with the 25, 50 and 100 fils in silver until 1969. In 1970, 250 fils pieces were introduced, followed by 500 fils and 1 dinar coins in 1982. Coin production ceased after 1990.
In 2004, new 25, 50, and 100 dinars coins were introduced. However, these coins proved to be unpopular:
| Value | Diameter | Weight | Composition | Obverse | Reverse |
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| 25 dinars | 17.5 mm | 2 g | Copper plated steel | Inscriptions: "Central Bank of Iraq" and "25 dinars" | Outline map of Iraq | | 50 dinars | Brass plated steel | Inscriptions: "Central Bank of Iraq" and "50 dinars" | Outline map of Iraq | | 100 dinars | 22 mm | 4.3 g | Nickel plated steel | Inscriptions: "Central Bank of Iraq" and "100 dinars" | Outline map of Iraq |
Banknotes
In 1931, banknotes were issued by the government in denominations of ¼, ½, 1, 5, 10 and 100 dinar. The notes were printed in the United Kingdom. From 1931 to 1947, the banknotes were issued by the Iraqi currency board for the government of Iraq and banknotes were convertible into pound sterling. From 1947, the banknotes were issued by the National Bank of Iraq, then after 1954 by the Central Bank of Iraq.
100 dinars notes ceased production in the 1940s but otherwise, the same denominations were issued until 1978, when 25 dinars notes were introduced. In 1991, 50 and 100 dinars were introduced, followed by 250 dinars notes in 1995 and 10,000 dinars notes in 2002.
Banknotes issued between 1990 and October 2003, along with a 25-dinars note issued in 1986, bear an idealized engraving of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Following the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq's currency was printed both locally and in China, using poor grade wood pulp paper (rather than cotton or linen) and inferior quality lithography (some notes were reputedly printed on presses designed for printing newspapers).
Counterfeited banknotes often appeared to be of better quality than real notes. Despite the collapse in the value of the Iraqi dinar, the highest denomination printed until 2002 was 250 dinars. In 2002, the Central Bank of Iraq issued a 10,000-dinars banknote to be used for "larger, and inter-bank transactions". This note was rarely accepted in practice due to fears of looting and counterfeiting. This forced people to carry around stacks of 250-dinars notes for everyday use. The other, smaller bills were so worthless that they largely fell into disuse. This situation meant that Iraq, for the most part, had only one denomination of banknote in wide circulation.
Currency printed before the Gulf War was often called the Swiss dinar. It got its name from the Swiss printing technology that produced banknotes of a considerably higher quality than those later produced under the economic sanctions that were imposed after the first Gulf War. After a change-over period, this currency was disendorsed by the Iraqi government. However, this old currency still circulated in the Kurdish regions of Iraq until it was replaced with the new dinar after the second Gulf War. During this time the Swiss dinar retained its value, whilst the new currency consistently lost value at sometimes 30 percent per annum.
In 2003, new banknotes were issued consisting of six denominations: 50, 250, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 25,000 dinar. The notes were similar in design to notes issued by the Central Bank of Iraq in the 1970s and 1980s. A 500 dinars note was issued a year later, in October 2004. In the Kurdish regions of Iraq, the 50 dinar note is not in circulation.
1990-2002 Series
| 1990-2002 Series |
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| Image | Value | Main Colour | Description |
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| Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse |
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| | | 1/4 Dinar (1993) | Green | Palm trees | Building | | | | 1/2 Dinar (1993) | Violet | Astrolab | Great Mosque of Samarra | | | | 1 Dinar (1992) | Pink & Green | Coin | Musanteriah School | | | | 5 Dinar (1992) | Red | Saddam Hussein | Soldier's tomb | | | | 10 Dinar (1992) | blueish-green | Saddam Hussein | Winged beast | | | | 25 Dinar (1990) | Green | Horses | Building | | | | 25 Dinar (1986) | Brownish-Green | Saddam Hussein & Horses | | | | | 25 Dinar (2001) | Green | Saddam Hussein | Ishtar gate | | | | 50 Dinar (1991) | Pink and Green | Saddam Hussein | Great Mosque of Samarra | | | | 50 Dinar (1994) | Brown and Blue | Saddam Hussein | Saddam Bridge | | | 100 Dinar (1991) | Green & Purple | Saddam Hussein | Swords | | | 100 Dinar (1994) | Blue | Saddam Hussein | Baghdad Clock | | | 100 Dinar (2002) | Blue | Saddam Hussein | Old Houses | | | 250 Dinar (1995) | Violet | Saddam Hussein | Liberty Monument friese | | | 250 Dinar (2002) | Violet | Saddam Hussein | Dome of the Rock | | | 10,000 Dinar (2002) | Pink / Violet | Saddam Hussein | Arabic astrolabe |
Current banknotes
| 2003 Series |
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| Image | Value | Main Colour | Description |
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| Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse |
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| | | 50 dinars | Purple | Grain silos at Basra | Date palms | | | 250 dinars | Blue | An astrolabe | Spiral minaret of the Great Mosque of Samarra | | | 500 dinars | Bluish-Green | Dûkan Dam on the Al Zab river | Assyrian carving of a winged bull | | | 1,000 dinars | Brown | A gold dinar coin | Mustansiriya University , Baghdad | | | 5,000 dinars | Dark blue | Gelî Ali Beg and its waterfall | Desert fortress at Al-Ukhether | | | | 10,000 dinars | Green | Abu Ali Hasan Ibn al-Haitham | Hadba Minaret at the Great Nurid Mosque, Mosul | | | 25,000 dinars | Red | A Kurdish farmer holding a sheaf of wheat | Carving of the Code of King Hammurabi |
See also
External links
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