Iraqi dinar

History

The dinar was introduced into circulation in 1932, by 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 = 11 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 than the official rate.

After the Gulf War in 1991, due to UN sanctions, the previously used Swiss printing method was no longer available so new, inferior quality, notes were produced. The previously produced notes became known as the Swiss dinar and continued to circulate in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Due to sanctions placed on Iraq by the United States and the international community along with excessive government printing, the new dinar notes devalued quickly. By late 1995, US$1 was valued at 3,000 dinars at the black market.

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". Multiple trillions of Dinar were then shipped to Iraq and secured in the CBI for distribution to the masses in exchange for the 'Saddam dinar' ./ of 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. At this point, the UN, IMF, WB and US combined to limit the value of the dinar to less than 1/10 of a cent to prevent looting and counterfeiting. The US Treasury was commissioned to print multiple billions of US currency, specific to Iraq so as to easily identified as different from that used elsewhere in the world. This new currency was then wrapped and stacked on pallets and shipped in dozens of USAF transports to Iraq. There it was transferred covertly to the CBI, where it was stored in very secure vaults.

Since Iraq has few exports other than oil, which is sold in dollars, there is little demand for dinars and they remain in "exotic" status. However the new currency has sparked a multimillion-dollar industry in selling dinars to speculators. These so-called "money service" companies will sell dinar to speculators at an inflated price and push the idea that the dinar will "RV" or be revalued to greatly increase the exchange rate against the dollar. As of January 2016 the dinar is pegged to the dollar at a rate of 1182/1180 (sell/buy) dinars per dollar. The current exchange rate is published by the Central Bank of Iraq on its English-language home page. The exchange rate reportedly available on the streets of Iraq is around 1,300 dinars per U.S. dollar.

There is considerable confusion (perhaps intentional on the part of dinar sellers) around the role of the International Monetary Fund in Iraq. The IMF as part of the rebuilding of Iraq is monitoring their finances and for this purpose uses a single rate (not a sell/buy) of 1170 dinars per dollar. This "program rate" is used for calculations in the IMF monitoring program and is not a rate imposed on Iraq by the IMF. For a wider history surrounding currency in the region, see British currency in the Middle East.

Speculation

In response to the growing concerns with fraud and scams related to investment in the Iraqi dinar, State agencies such as Washington state, Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama and others have issued statements and releases warning potential investors. Further alerts have been issued by news agencies.

The Better Business Bureau has included Dinar Investments in its list of top 10 scams. There has also been a book written on the subject.

These alerts warn potential investors that there is no place outside of Iraq to exchange their dinar, that they are typically sold by dealers at inflated prices and that there is little to substantiate the claims of significant appreciation of their investment due to revaluation of the currency.

Coins

Coins were introduced in 1931 and 1932 in denominations of round 1, and 2 fils in bronze, and scalloped 4, and 10, fils in nickel. 20, 50, and 200 fils were 50% silver. The 200 fils coin is also known as a rial. Bronze substituted nickel in the 5 and 10 fils from 1938 to 1943 during the World War II period and reverted to nickel in 1953. Silver 100 fils coins were also introduced in 1953. These coins first depicted King Faisal I from 1931-1933, King Ghazi from 1938, and King Faisal II from 1943 until the end of the kingdom.

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 this series an allegorical sun replaced the image of the king, shapes and sizes remained the same with the exception of the 1 fil which was decagon shaped. This image was then replaced by three palms in 1968. In 1970, 250 fils pieces were introduced, followed by 500 fils and 1 dinar coins in 1982. A number of the coins for 1982 were a commemorative series celebrating Babylonian achievements. During this period, many of the coins were identified by their shape due to being made of similar composition metals, as from 1980 onward 250 fils were octagonal, 500 fils square, and 1 dinar decagon shaped. Coin production ceased after 1990 due to the emergency conditions generated by Gulf War and international sanctions.

In 2004, new 25-, 50- and 100-dinar coins were introduced in bronze, brass, and nickel-plated steel respectively. They are sparse in design and depict an abstract map of Iraq and the main rivers.