Business

Dubai City Currency
By Rodney Bryant

The UAE dirham is the currency for all of the emirates in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is one of the emirates, and so also uses the UAE dirham for the Dubai currency. In text the currency is abbreviated as AED or Dh before the amount, and dh or dhs after the amount.

Changing money
Visitors may exchange currency in Dubai at banks or money changers. Dubai has no currency restrictions, so any currency can be exchanged at the discretion of the operator. Shoppers visiting Dubai's malls and shopping centers will often find a money changer on site keeping the same hours as the other shops. It is also possible to change money at hotels, but the rate is usually less advantageous. Some foreign credit cards may be used at ATMs in Dubai to withdraw Dubai currency, but visitors should be aware that this practice often incurs heavy fees. Some foreign currencies are accepted at most local shops, including the Euro, the British Pound, the US dollar and other Gulf currencies.

Denominations
The basic unit of Dubai currency is the dirham, which is pegged to US currency at 3.67 dirhams to the dollar. A smaller unit, the fil, is worth 1/100 of a dirham. Coins in denominations of 25 and 50 fils and 1 dirham are in common circulation, and smaller coins with values of 1, 5 and 10 fils may be of interest to collectors, but are rarely used. Most shops round prices to the nearest 25 fils. Bank notes are issued in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 dirham denominations. Paper currency in Dubai is printed in Arabic on the front and English on the back. Visitors should be aware that the 5 and 50 dirham notes are both brownish in color, and should take care to avoid confusion.

Similar coins
World travelers should note that certain coins minted elsewhere are easily confused with Dubai currency. For instance, the one peso coin from the Philippines is the same size as the UAE one dirham coin. Since the peso is valued at around 8 fils, they are often employed in vending machine fraud. Other coins of the same size and weight as the dirham are the Moroccan dirham, the Pakistani five rupee, the Omani 50 baisa and the Australian ten cent piece.

History of Dubai Currency
From 1959 until 1966, all of the Emirates used the Persian Gulf rupee, which was issued by the Bank of India and pegged to the Indian rupee. Following the 1966 devaluation of the Indian rupee, the Qatar and Dubai riyal was adopted as the Dubai currency. Following the 1971 formation of the UAE, which included Dubai but not Qatar, the Emirates established a common currency, the present-day UAE dirham. The number of different currencies used in the recent past, together with the practice of issuing commemorative coins, makes currency in Dubai a subject of special interest to currency collectors.

Coining and printing Dubai's money
Issuing currency in the UAE, including Dubai, is the responsibility of the Banking Operations Department of the Central Bank of the UAE, located in Abu Dhabi. Bank notes are actually printed in France and the UK. Current UAE bank notes incorporate a falcon watermark as well as cutting-edge security markings to minimize the possibility of forgery.

The UAE dirham and the fil used as Dubai currency are readily available from money changers and banks in the Emirate. Visitors may also withdraw UAE currency in Dubai from ATMs, or use certain foreign currencies. Today's Central Bank, heir to a long history of local currency, provides a safe and solid currency in the dirham.

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