The
dinar is the
currencyIn economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, for example the US dollar, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
of
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
. Its
ISO 4217ISO 4217 is the international standard describing three-letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization...
code is "LYD". The dinar is subdivided into 1000
dirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
(درهم). It was introduced in 1971 and replaced the
poundThe Libyan pound was the currency of Libya between 1951 and 1971. The pound was divided into 100 piastres and 1000 milliemes ....
at par. It is issued by the
Central Bank of LibyaThe Central Bank of Libya is 100% state owned and represents the monetary authority in The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and enjoys the status of autonomous corporate body...
, which also supervises the banking system and regulates credit. In 1972, the
Libyan Arab Foreign BankThe Libyan Arab Foreign Bank was established in 1972 in Tripoli, Libya as the country's first offshore banking institution licensed to operate internationally. The bank is 100% owned by the Central Bank of Libya...
was established to deal with overseas investment.
Until 1975, old coins denominated in
milliemesThe Libyan pound was the currency of Libya between 1951 and 1971. The pound was divided into 100 piastres and 1000 milliemes ....
(equal to the dirham) circulated.
The
dinar is the
currencyIn economics, the term currency can refer either to a particular currency, for example the US dollar, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
of
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
. Its
ISO 4217ISO 4217 is the international standard describing three-letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization...
code is "LYD". The dinar is subdivided into 1000
dirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
(درهم). It was introduced in 1971 and replaced the
poundThe Libyan pound was the currency of Libya between 1951 and 1971. The pound was divided into 100 piastres and 1000 milliemes ....
at par. It is issued by the
Central Bank of LibyaThe Central Bank of Libya is 100% state owned and represents the monetary authority in The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and enjoys the status of autonomous corporate body...
, which also supervises the banking system and regulates credit. In 1972, the
Libyan Arab Foreign BankThe Libyan Arab Foreign Bank was established in 1972 in Tripoli, Libya as the country's first offshore banking institution licensed to operate internationally. The bank is 100% owned by the Central Bank of Libya...
was established to deal with overseas investment.
Coins
Until 1975, old coins denominated in
milliemesThe Libyan pound was the currency of Libya between 1951 and 1971. The pound was divided into 100 piastres and 1000 milliemes ....
(equal to the dirham) circulated. In 1975, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dirham which bore the coat of arms of the
Federation of Arab RepublicsThe Federation of Arab Republics was an abortive attempt by Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi to merge Libya, Egypt, and Syria, creating a pan-Arab state...
. These were followed in 1979 by a second series of coins, in the same denominations, which bore a design of a horseman in place of the arms. ¼ and ½ dinar coins were issued in 2004.
http://www.cbl.gov.ly/en/variant/index.php?cid=100&id=474 1, 5, 10, and 20 dirham coins are rarely used, if ever, as units of exchange. However, they still retain their status as legal tenders.
Banknotes
In 1971, banknotes were introduced in denominations of ¼, ½, 1, 5 and 10 dinar. 20 dinar notes were added in 2002. On 27 August 2008, the
Central Bank of LibyaThe Central Bank of Libya is 100% state owned and represents the monetary authority in The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and enjoys the status of autonomous corporate body...
announced a new 50 dinar note and that was scheduled to enter circulation on 31 August 2008. The note is already in circulation and features
Muammar al-GaddafiMuammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi
1 has been the de facto leader of Libya since a coup in 1969....
on the obverse. Scans of the new note can be found
here.
The subjects depicted on the banknotes have not changed since series 2 except for the portrait of
Muammar al-GaddafiMuammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi
1 has been the de facto leader of Libya since a coup in 1969....
which became the new obverse design of the 1 dinar note in series 4.
| Banknote Series of Libyan dinar |
| Series | Denominations | Colours | Issued Dates | Note |
|---|
| 1 |
¼, ½, 1, 5 and 10 dinars |
Orange, purple, blue, olive and grey |
1971 – 1972 |
|
| 2 |
All green |
1980 – 1981 |
|
| 3 |
Green as the dominant colour, with brown, purple, blue, light green and multicoloured. |
1984 |
|
| 4 |
Multicoloured |
1988 –ca. 1990 |
|
| 4, revised |
Slight change |
ca. 1991 – 1993 |
English text on ¼, ½, and 5 dinars note was removed |
| 5 |
¼, ½, 1, 5, 10 and 20 dinars |
Multicoloured |
2002 |
|
| 6 |
1, 5 and 10 dinars |
Blue, purple and green |
2004 |
Easily visible foil or hologram on upper left on obverse as the new anti-counterfeit device |
Popular nomenclature and denominations
The Libyan dinar is commonly called
jni, (western Libyan Dialect) or
jneh (eastern Libyan dialect). The official name dinar is rarely used outside official circles. The official fractional unit dirham is never used in everyday talk.
Garsh - a variant of the word
qirshQirsh, Gersh, Grush, Kuruş and Grosi are all names for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. The variation in the name stems from the different languages it is used in and the different transcriptions into the Latin alphabet...
- is used instead, with 1
garsh = 10 dirhams. One thousand dinars is stylishly called a
kilo . Similarly, five dinars notes and ten dinars notes are sometimes nicknamed, in younger generations male slang,
faifa and
tsena respectively, which are playful feminizations of the English words five and ten. Libyan currency is nicknamed by Libyans [[ʿOmar El-Mokhtar]] after the Libyan freedom fighter who is featured on the obverse of the 10 dinar note.
External links