Thedirham (/ˈdɪər(h)əm/;[2]Arabic:درهم إماراتي,abbreviation:د.إ inArabic,Dh (singular) andDhs (plural) orDH inLatin;ISO code:AED) is the official currency of theUnited Arab Emirates. The dirham is subdivided into 100fils (فلس). It ispegged to theUnited States dollar at a constant exchange rate of approximately 3.67 AED to 1 USD. In March 2025, the UAE Central Bank announced the creation of a Dirhamcurrency symbol,, derived from the Latin letterD crossed with two horizontal lines.
The namedirham is a loan from the Greekδραχμή (drakhmé). Due to centuries of trade and usage of the currency,dirham survived through theOttoman Empire.
Before 1966, all the emirates that now form the UAE used theGulf rupee, which was pegged at parity to theIndian 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 theTrucial States exceptAbu Dhabi adopted theQatar and Dubai riyal, which was equal to the Gulf rupee prior to the devaluation. These emirates briefly adopted theSaudi riyal during the transition from the Gulf rupee to the Qatar and Dubai riyal.Abu Dhabi used theBahraini 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.
In March 2025, the Central Bank of the UAE announced acurrency symbol of the dirham. Its design based on two horizontal lines with curved ends (inspired by the UAE flag) superimposed on the Latin letterD.[3] This symbol does not yet have acodepoint inUnicode for use withcomputer fonts.
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 incupro-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 inEastern Arabic numerals, and the text is inArabic. 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.
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.[5] 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 inArabic with numbers inEastern Arabic numerals; the reverse texts are inEnglish with numbers inArabic 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.[6]
On 22 March 2008, theCentral 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.[7] Additional new polymer banknotes of Dhs 5 and Dhs 10 were introduced on 21 April 2022,[8] with the Dhs 1000 released in the first half of 2023,[9] and the Dhs 500 note reportedly introduced on 30 November 2023.[10] A falcon watermark is present on all dirham notes to prevent fraud.
On 28 January 1978, the dirham was officially pegged to theIMF'sspecial drawing rights (SDRs).[11] In practice, it has been pegged to theU.S. dollar for most of the time.[12] Since November 1997, the dirham has been pegged to the US dollar at a rate of US$1 = Dhs 3.6725,[13] which translates to approximately Dh 1 = US$0.272294.
.svg)
