The Jordanian dinar
Currency · JOD · 2 countries and territories
A currency board sitting in London put the first Jordanian dinars into circulation in 1949 and exchanged them at par for the Palestine pound, the money of Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan alike. The Central Bank of Jordan took over the issue in 1964. Accounts still run to three decimal places, because a dinar divides into 1,000 fils.
No sign of its own
The dinar has no sign of its own in general use. Amounts are written with the code JOD, with the unofficial Latin abbreviation JD, or with د.أ, the initials of the Arabic name. They run to three decimal places because the fils, a thousandth of a dinar, is still the unit of account.
- ISO code
- JOD
- ISO number
- 400
- Subunit
- fils, 1/1,000
An amount, written out
JOD 1,234.500
- JOD 1,234.500English
- ١٬٢٣٤٫٥٠٠ د.أ.ArabicJordan, Palestine
Where the Jordanian dinar is the official currency
Jordan issues the dinar, and it still circulates in Palestine, where the West Bank has used it since 1950 and the Paris Protocol lets it run beside the Israeli shekel and the US dollar.
Legal tender alongside it
About the Jordanian dinar
Who issued the dinar before the central bank
Under the British mandate the Palestine Currency Board, set up in 1927, issued the Palestine pound, and Transjordan used it as much as Mandatory Palestine did. Independence came on 25 May 1946, and the new kingdom kept the pound for a while, until Provisional Act No. 35 of 1949 created the Jordan Currency Board, a president and four members based in London, as the only body entitled to issue Jordanian money. Its first notes ran from half a dinar to fifty.
The dinar became official currency and legal tender on 1 July 1950. Palestine pounds stopped being used in the kingdom on 30 September 1950. The Central Bank of Jordan, established in 1959, took over note production in 1964 and released its own first series on 4 August 1965.
Why the dinar still circulates in the West Bank
Jordanian rule of the West Bank began in April 1950, and the dinar replaced the Palestine pound there too. Jordan lost control of the territory in 1967. The dinar stayed.
The Paris Protocol of 1994, which set the economic terms between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, named no single currency. It let the Israeli shekel, the dinar and the US dollar circulate as legal or semi-legal tender. The Palestine Monetary Authority, founded the same year, works as a de facto central bank but has no authority to issue money. An Atlantic Council brief of August 2026 put the dinar's share of West Bank bank deposits at around 23% and noted that some municipalities there still invoice in dinars. The same brief records that Israel has restricted the import of dinar banknotes into the West Bank. Palestine's record, Palestine, lists the shekel and the US dollar beside the dinar.
What became of the fils
A dinar divides into 10 dirhams, 100 qirsh or 1,000 fils. The first coins, in 1949, were 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 fils, and the earliest 1 fils pieces were struck by mistake reading "1 fil". A 25 fils coin followed in 1968 and a quarter dinar in 1970, while the 20 fils was minted only until 1965. The 1 fils ended in 1985.
Until 1992 the coins named their values in Arabic as fils, qirsh, dirham and dinar, and in English only as fils and dinar. After 1992 the fils and the dirham left the coins, which now read in dinars and qirsh or piastres. Smaller quarter dinar coins arrived in 1996 together with half and one dinar coins, and the half dinar note gave way to a coin in 1999. The fils is effectively obsolete as a coin but survives in writing, which is why prices and balances carry three decimals.
How the fifth series of notes is built
A twenty dinar note joined the range in 1977. The central bank put its latest series into circulation between 26 December 2022 and 16 August 2023, in values of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 dinars. Every note is 74 millimetres tall. The length steps up from 133 millimetres on the one dinar note to 149 on the fifty. The reverses carry the mountains of Wadi Rum, the Treasury at Petra, the Roman Theatre in Amman and Wadi Mujib.
How the dinar is held steady
Since 23 October 1995 the dinar has officially been pegged to the special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund. In practice the central bank has held it fixed against the US dollar. The fixed rate followed a sharp fall in 1988 and 1989, when mounting foreign debt pushed the dinar down and protests broke out across the country.
Common questions
Questions about the Jordanian dinar
Can Jordanian dinars be spent in the West Bank?
Yes, alongside the Israeli shekel and the US dollar. The Paris Protocol of 1994 let all three circulate as legal or semi-legal tender and designated none of them as the single official currency. An Atlantic Council brief of August 2026 put about 23% of West Bank bank deposits in dinars, and some municipalities still send their invoices in dinars. The Palestine Monetary Authority has no power to issue a currency of its own.
Why do Jordanian prices have three decimal places?
The dinar is divided into 1,000 fils. The coin itself went out of use, the 1 fils was last minted in 1985, but accounts and prices kept the thousandths, so an amount is still written to three places after the point.
How many piastres are in a dinar?
One hundred. The piastre and the qirsh are the same unit under two names, and coins since 1992 read in dinars and qirsh or piastres. The older fractions, the dirham at a tenth and the fils at a thousandth, came off the coins that year, though the fils still sets the three decimals of an amount.
Who printed Jordan's money before the Central Bank of Jordan existed?
The Jordan Currency Board, created by Provisional Act No. 35 of 1949. It sat in London, had a president and four members, and was the only body allowed to issue Jordanian currency. It issued the first dinars in 1949 at par with the Palestine pound, which Transjordan had shared with Mandatory Palestine under the mandate. The Central Bank of Jordan, established in 1959, took over note production in 1964 and put its own first series into circulation on 4 August 1965.