The Bahraini dinar
Currency · BHD · 1 country
The Bahrain Currency Board put dinar notes and coins into circulation on 7 October 1965, replacing the Gulf rupee at ten rupees to the dinar. The Central Bank of Bahrain issues them now. A dinar divides into 1,000 fils, so prices run to three decimal places, and Abu Dhabi used the same money until 1973.
No sign of its own
Bahrain has no currency sign of its own. Amounts are written BD in Latin script or د.ب in Arabic, and usually to three decimal places, because the dinar divides into a thousand fils.
- ISO code
- BHD
- ISO number
- 048
- Subunit
- fils, 1/1,000
An amount, written out
BHD 1,234.500
- BHD 1,234.500English
- ١٬٢٣٤٫٥٠٠ د.ب.ArabicBahrain
Where the Bahraini dinar is the official currency
Bahrain issues the dinar and is now its only user. Saudi riyals pass in shops across the country at ten to the dinar.
About the Bahraini dinar
Who has issued the dinar since the Currency Board
The Bahrain Currency Board dates from 1964. Its first family of money, issued in October 1965, had notes of a quarter, a half, one, five and ten dinars and coins from 1 fils to 100 fils.
An Amiri Decree of 1973 created the Bahrain Monetary Agency, which took over the paper money. Its notes, dated 1973 in Arabic, came out from July 1978, starting with a 20-dinar note that the Currency Board had never issued. A third issue with new security features followed in March 1993, and on 7 September 2006 the agency was renamed the Central Bank of Bahrain, the year the Central Bank of Bahrain Financial Institutions Law was issued. Its fourth issue came in March 2008. The notes run from half a dinar to twenty dinars. Upgraded tens and twenties with tactile lines for readers with impaired sight arrived on 4 September 2016.
Why the Gulf rupee gave way
Before 1965 Bahrain spent the Gulf rupee. The dinar took over at ten rupees to one dinar, which was also fifteen shillings sterling. Bahrain then stayed put when India devalued the rupee in 1966 and when sterling was devalued in 1967.
Abu Dhabi adopted the Bahraini dinar at first. In 1973 it changed to the dirham, set at 100 fils, a tenth of a dinar.
How the dinar is held against the US dollar
In December 1980 the dinar was officially pegged to the special drawing right, the IMF's basket unit. In practice it sat at 0.376 dinar to the US dollar, and Decree 48 of 2001 made that rate official. Shops across Bahrain take Saudi riyals at ten to the dinar, except for the Saudi 500-riyal note, which only large supermarkets, airports and electronics shops will accept.
Who printed the replica twenty-dinar notes
Someone placed a fake order for Bahraini banknotes with Ciccone Calcografica, a printer in Argentina, which never checked it with the authorities in Bahrain. Using genuine banknote paper from Arjo Wiggins, it printed more than 7 million replicas of the 1993 twenty-dinar note. They were flown through African and European countries and presented for exchange in Belgium, Switzerland and the Gulf around June 1998, just as an upgraded twenty was being released at home.
The volume gave them away. The Monetary Agency let people who had taken the replicas in good faith exchange them at banks from 8 to 14 June 1998, then recalled every twenty-dinar note on 30 July. A new twenty, peach instead of purple and carrying a hologram, came out on 1 August 1998. The genuine upgraded purple note had circulated for about seven weeks.
Which coins still turn up in change
The 1 fils coin was not struck after 1966 and no longer circulates. In 1992 brass replaced bronze in the 5 and 10 fils, which moved again to brass-plated steel in 2010. A bimetallic 100 fils came in October 1992. The reverses carry a palm tree, a Dilmun seal on the 25 fils and a dhow on the 50.
A bimetallic 500 fils, minted from 2000 to 2002, showed the Pearl Monument. After the monument was demolished on 18 March 2011, during the uprising in Bahrain, banks stopped paying the coin back out, so it has been thinning from circulation while remaining legal tender.
Common questions
Questions about the Bahraini dinar
How many fils are in a Bahraini dinar?
One thousand. That is why Bahraini prices usually carry three decimal places, such as BD 1.250 for one dinar and 250 fils. The coins in use run from 5 fils to 100 fils, with a bimetallic 500 fils that is rarely seen. Notes start at half a dinar.
Can Saudi riyals be spent in Bahrain?
Yes, at points of sale throughout the country, at ten riyals to the dinar. The one exception is the Saudi 500-riyal note, which is accepted only in large supermarkets, at airports and in electronics shops. The dinar itself was pegged to the IMF's special drawing right in December 1980 and held in practice at 0.376 dinar to the US dollar, the rate Decree 48 of 2001 made official.
Why is the 500 fils coin so hard to find?
It was minted only from 2000 to 2002 and carried the Pearl Monument. After the monument was demolished on 18 March 2011, banks stopped releasing the coin back into circulation once it reached them, so it has been draining out of use. It is still legal tender.
Did Abu Dhabi use the Bahraini dinar?
It did. Abu Dhabi took up the Bahraini dinar when it was introduced in 1965 and kept it until 1973, when it changed to the dirham. The new dirham was set at 100 fils, a tenth of a Bahraini dinar. Since then the dinar has had one user on record, Bahrain itself.