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The United Arab Emirates dirham (Arabic: درهم إماراتي; code: AED; symbol: د.إ) is the currency of the United Arab Emirates. Though the dirham's official code is AED, it is sometimes seen abbreviated as DH or Dhs. It is divided into 100 fils (فلس).

History[]

QatarDubai 1 riyal obv

The Qatar and Dubai riyal was replaced by the dirham.

The UAE dirham was introduced during December 1971, replacing the Qatar and Dubai riyal at par. The Qatar and Dubai riyal had circulated since 1966 in all of the emirates, with an exception of Abu Dhabi, which used the Bahraini dinar up until the introduction of the dirham, at a rate of 1 dirham = 0.1 dinar.

The name dirham is derived from the Greek word, drachmae, which literally means "handful", through Latin. Due to centuries old trade and usage of the dirham, it survived through the Ottoman regime.

Coins[]

UAE fils 1973

A 1 fils coin.

In 1973, coins were issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50 fils, and 1 dirham. The lowest denominated coins (1, 5, and 10 fils) were struck in bronze, while the other denominations were struck in cupronickel. The fils coins were the same in size and composition as the corresponding Qatar and Dubai dirham coins. During 1995, the 50 fils and 1 dirham coins were reduced in size, and the 50 fils changed to having an equilaterally-curved heptagon shape.

The value and numbers inscribed on the coins are written in Eastern Arabic numerals, and the text is Arabic. The 1, 5, and 10 fils coins are not commonly found in circulation, leading to all amounts being rounded to the nearest multiples of 25 fils.

Since 1976, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has minted a number of commemorative coins in 1, 5, 25, 50, 100, 500, 750, and 1000 dirhams.

Fraud[]

By August 2006, it became publicly known that the Philippine 1 peso coin is equal in size to a UAE 1 dirham coin. As 1 peso is equal to only 8 fils, this has led to vending machine fraud within the UAE. Along with this, the Australian 10 cent coin, Pakistani 5 rupee coin, the Omani 50 baisa coin, and the Moroccan dirham are also the same size as the UAE 1 dirham coin.

To prevent fraud with banknotes, a falcon watermark is present.

Banknotes[]

UAE dirham 1973 obv

A 1 dirham note from 1973.

In 1973, the United Arab Emirates Currency Board issued banknotes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 1000 dirhams. A second series was introduced in 1982, which omitted the 1 and 100 dirham banknotes. In 1983, the 500 dirham note was introduced, followed by 200 dirham in 1989, and new 1000 dirham notes in 2000. The banknotes currently found in circulation are denominated in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 dirham.

The obverse text on the current notes is written in Arabic with numbers in Eastern Arabic numerals, while the reverse text is in English with Arabic numerals.

Exchange rates[]

On January 28, 1978, the dirham officially became pegged to the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights. In practice, it is commonly pegged to the United States dollar. Since November 2007, the dirham has been pegged to the dollar at a rate of 1 dollar = 3.6725 dirhams, or approximately 1 dirham = 0.272294 dollars.

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Current AED exchange rates
From Google Finance [1]: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From Yahoo! Finance [2]: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From OzForex [3]: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From XE.com [4]: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From OANDA.com [5]: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD


See also[]

References[]

1912 double eagle obv Currency Wiki has 9 images related to UAE dirham.
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United Arab Emirates dirham
Banknotes 1 d5 d10 d20 d50 d100 d200 d500 d1000 d
Coins 1 f5 f10 f25 f50 f1 d5 d25 d50 d100 d500 d750 d1000 d
Miscellaneous Central Bank of the United Arab EmiratesDirhamFils
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