The Omani rial

Who issues the rial and under what law

The Banking Law, Royal Decree 2/2025, makes the Central Bank of Oman the sole authority to issue currency in Oman, and to hold and recall it. Its Board of Directors approves the design of every note and coin under Royal Decree 4/2025. The bank is responsible for printing and minting them. Each month it publishes the value of currency in circulation in the Official Gazette. Special coins and commemorative sets also need the board's approval.

The first Omani rial notes came from the Oman Currency Board on 18 November 1972. The Central Bank of Oman has issued notes since 1977.

What circulated before the rial

Until 1940 Muscat and Oman, as the state was then called, ran on two foreign monies. Indian rupees circulated on the coast. In the interior people used the Maria Theresa thaler, which they called a rial because it was about the size of the Spanish eight real coin. The central bank dates the first coins struck for the Al Bu Sa'id sultans to Zanzibar in 1882, and modern Omani coinage to copper coins of 1893.

Coins for Dhofar followed in 1940 and coins for Oman in 1946, both counted in baisa at 200 to the rial. The Gulf rupee arrived in 1959. When India devalued it on 6 June 1966, several states that used it adopted their own money. Oman kept it and backed it at its old peg to the pound.

On 7 May 1970 the Saidi rial, named after the House of Al Said, replaced the Gulf rupee at 21 rupees to the rial and at par with sterling. It already counted 1,000 baisa. The change of regime in 1970 and the new name of the country brought the Omani rial on 11 November 1972. That was when the peg moved from sterling to the US dollar, at US$2.895, until a devaluation of about 9% in 1986.

Why the rial counts in thousandths

The rial divides into 1,000 baisa, also written baiza, and the ISO list gives it three decimal places. The coinage for all of Muscat and Oman in 1970 ran from 2 to 100 baisa. Quarter rial and half rial coins joined it in 1980. On 20 May 2020 every coin of 100 baisa or more lost its monetary value. The central bank now lists four coins, of 5, 10, 25 and 50 baisa, and 100 baisa survives as a note. The 5 and 10 baisa coins turn up mainly where a shop's prices need them.

How the notes were replaced

A series issued on 1 November 1995 was updated with foil strips from 2000, and every note older than it lost its validity after 30 July 2019. A new series running from 100 baisa to 50 rials came out in 2020. Since 1 January 2025 all earlier notes are invalid and no bank will exchange them. The current set is 100 baisa, half a rial, and 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 rials.

How the rial got a sign of its own

For most of its history the rial had no symbol. In November 2025 the central bank launched one, saying it would standardise how the currency is shown on commercial and digital platforms. The character was scheduled for Unicode 18.0 as U+20C4, OMANI RIAL SIGN, expected in September 2026, and the data this catalogue reads does not carry it yet.