United Arab Emirates dirham

History

The name dirham is a loan from the Greek δραχμή (drakhmé). 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 dirham as its currency. Abu Dhabi adopted the UAE dirham in place of the Bahraini dinar, at 1 dinar = 10 dirhams, while in the other emirates, the Qatar and Dubai riyal were exchanged at par.

Currency symbol

In March 2025, the Central Bank of the UAE announced a currency symbol of the dirham. Its design based on two horizontal lines with curved ends (inspired by the UAE flag) superimposed on the Latin letter D. The symbol was encoded in Unicode version 18 as U+20C3 uae dirham sign, in September 2026.

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Coins

In 1973, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 fils, as well as 1 dirham. The 1, 5, and 10 fils are struck in bronze, while the higher denominations were made in cupro-nickel. The fils coins were the same size and composition as the corresponding Qatar and Dubai dirham coins. In 1995, the five 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. Although the 1, 5, and 10 fils coins are rarely used in everyday life, the Central Bank of the UAE continues to produce them. However, these coins are primarily minted for collectors and commemorative purposes rather than for mass circulation. So all amounts are rounded up or down to the nearest multiples of 25 fils. The one-fils coin is a rarity and does not circulate significantly. When making a change, there is a risk of confusing the old 50-fils coin with 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.

Issues with fraud

By August 2006, it became publicly known that the Philippine one-peso coin is the same size as one dirham. As 1 peso is only worth eight 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 exact size as the Emirati one dirham coin. The 20 Gapik Coin is almost the same size as the 1 Dirham Coin. Although 1 mm thinner, a one dirham coin has also been found in ten-cent coin rolls in Australia.

Banknotes

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

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 comes 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.

On 22 March 2008, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates released a Dhs 50 note. The security thread was a 3-mm wide, colour-shifting windowed security thread with demetalized UAE 50, and it bore the new coat of arms. On 7 December 2021, a redesigned polymer Dhs 50 note was released to commemorate the golden jubilee of the country on 2 December 2021, making it the UAE's first polymer banknote. Additional new polymer banknotes of Dhs 5 and Dhs 10 were introduced on 21 April 2022, with the Dhs 1000 released in the first half of 2023, and the Dhs 500 note reportedly introduced on 30 November 2023. A falcon watermark is present on all dirham notes as a deterrent to counterfeiting and fraud.

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Exchange rates

On 28 January 1978, the dirham was officially pegged to the IMF's special drawing rights (SDRs). In practice, it has been pegged to the U.S. dollar for most of the time. Since November 1997, the dirham has been pegged to the US dollar at a rate of US$1 = Dhs 3.6725, which translates to approximately Dh 1 = US$0.272294.