2020-11-06 Fri

Prior to the discovery of oil there and the wealth from it, what today is the United Arab Emirates and Qatar were a bunch of independent Emirate States under an informal British protectorate, including a foreign monetary system. Due to changes made by other countries that controlled their currency, for a short seven years, Dubai and Qatar issued their own joint coinage and currency system.

Under the British-rule, United Arab Emirates formed a monetary policy that placed these states under the Indian rupee currency. With Indian independence, the rupee continued to serve as the currency of the Gulf States. The Indian government created and printed “Gulf Rupees”, a currency on par with the Indian rupee but for exclusive circulation outside the country. On June 6, 1966, the Indian government devalued the Gulf rupee against the Indian rupee.

Qatar and Dubai came together to form their own single currency, and on March 21, the Qatar-Dubai Currency Agreement was signed by both countries. Under the Qatar Dubai currency, coins were issued in the denominations of One, Five, 10, 25, and 50 dirhams.

The coins feature a sand gazelle on the obverse with the date in both lunar Hijri and Common Era dating systems in Arabic with “Qatar and Dubai” in Arabic below. The reverse features the denomination in Arabic and “Qatar and Dubai” in English. The coins circulated along with the currency until 1973.

Image Courtesy: coinweek.com