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The dinar (Arabic:
دينار, Kurdish: دینار, ISO 4217: IQD, pronounced: di-'när) is the
currency of Iraq. It is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq and is
subdivided into 1,000 fils (فلس), although inflation has rendered the
fils obsolete.
The exchange rate
available on the streets of Iraq is currently around 1,168.50 dinars
per US
dollar (July 2010).
The dinar was introduced into circulation in 1931, 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 = 13⅓ 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 (1.86 dinars for US$1) than the official rate.
After the Gulf War in 1991, and due to the economic blockade, the
previously used Swiss printing technology was no longer available. A
new, inferior quality notes issue was produced. The previous issue
became known as the Swiss dinar and continued to circulate in the
Kurdish region of Iraq. Due to excessive government printing of the new
notes issue, the dinar devalued quickly, and in late 1995, US$1 was
valued at 3,000 dinars.
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." 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.
Although the value of the dinar appreciated following the introduction
of the new banknotes from 4,000 dinars per U.S. dollar, at the time of
their introduction, to a high of 980 dinars per dollar, it is now held
at a "program" exchange rate, as specified by the International Monetary
Fund, of 1197 dinars per US dollar at the Central Bank of Iraq.
However, there is not yet a set international exchange rate and so
international banks do not yet exchange Iraqi dinar.
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