The Tajikistani somoni
Currency · TJS · 1 country
Tajikistan swapped the Tajik rouble for the somoni on 30 October 2000, at 1,000 roubles to one somoni, and named the new money after Ismoil Somoni, the ninth-century founder of the Samanid state. The National Bank of Tajikistan issues it in 100 dirams, and in 2001 the country got its first circulating coins since independence.
No sign of its own
The somoni has no sign of its own. Amounts are written SM, the abbreviation of somoni, or with the code TJS; the Tajik name is сомонӣ and the hundredth is the дирам, diram. The name honours Ismoil Somoni, the Samanid ruler whose portrait is on the 100 somoni note.
- ISO code
- TJS
- ISO number
- 972
- Subunit
- diram, 1/100
An amount, written out
TJS 1,234.50
- TJS 1,234.50English
- 1 234,50 сом.TajikTajikistan
In English the code comes before the amount. Where the Tajikistani somoni is used, it comes after the amount in Tajikistan.
Where the Tajikistani somoni is the official currency
Tajikistan pays in somoni, with coins in use since 2001, bimetallic 3 and 5 somoni pieces since 2003, and notes up to 500 somoni.
About the Tajikistani somoni
Why the currency carries a ruler's name
The somoni is named after Ismoil Somoni, who lived from 849 to 907 and whom the National Bank of Tajikistan describes as the founder of the first centralised state of the Tajiks, the Samanid state. His portrait is on the 100 somoni note and the 50 dirams note, and it was on the 1 somoni coin of 2001.
The currency replaced the Tajik rouble on 30 October 2000, at 1,000 roubles to the somoni, nine years after Tajikistan became independent.
How the dirams moved from paper to metal
The first somoni notes were printed in 1999 and issued in 2000, including notes for 1, 5, 20 and 50 dirams. Coins came in 2001. They were the first circulating coins the country had used since independence in 1991, and they were introduced to replace the diram notes gradually and to make the whole monetary system run more efficiently. The first set ran from 5 dirams to 5 somoni, in brass-clad and nickel-clad steel. Bimetallic 3 and 5 somoni coins followed in 2003, and the reverses of the somoni coins change every year to mark different events. A third series of 1, 3 and 5 somoni coins in 2018 put the writers Mirzo Tursunzoda and Sadriddin Ayni and the statesman Shirinsho Shotemur on the obverse.
What inflation added to the note series
Inflationary pressure after the launch showed in 2010. That year the bank added a 3 somoni note and, at the top of the range, notes of 200 and 500 somoni. The 5 to 100 somoni notes were reprinted in 2013, still bearing the year 1999. In 2021 a new 100 somoni note replaced the Presidential Palace on its back with the Navruz Palace.
How the notes guard against copying
The National Bank prints on paper of pure cotton, with colourless fibres that glow red, blue and green under ultraviolet light. Portraits, text and values are engraved in intaglio. The watermark repeats the portrait in miniature. A windowed thread shows the letters БМТ, for Бонки Миллии Тоҷикистон, the bank's Tajik name, when held to the light. Raised octagons in the lower part of each note let blind users tell the notes apart by touch. The 20, 50 and 100 somoni notes also carry a Kinegram stripe.
What the anniversary note marked
For twenty-five years the bank marked the country's milestones only with coins. That changed on 30 October 2025. For the somoni's twenty-fifth anniversary the bank unveiled a commemorative 100 somoni note, designed by Giesecke+Devrient and printed by Louisenthal on organic cotton. Its front pairs Ismoil Somoni with the Samanid Mausoleum, his burial place, which stands in Bukhara in Uzbekistan. The back shows the new Parliament Building in Dushanbe.
Common questions
Questions about the Tajikistani somoni
Who is Ismoil Somoni, the man the currency is named after?
Ismoil Somoni lived from 849 to 907 and led the Samanid state, which the National Bank of Tajikistan calls the first centralised state of the Tajiks. His portrait is on the 100 somoni note and the 50 dirams note. The commemorative 100 somoni note of 2025 sets him beside the Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara.
How many dirams are in a somoni?
One hundred. Dirams started out as paper: notes of 1, 5, 20 and 50 dirams were issued with the somoni in 2000. Coins from 2001 onward were meant to take over from them, and the 50 dirams coin is now one of the pieces in frequent use.
What does БМТ on Tajik banknotes stand for?
The letters abbreviate Бонки Миллии Тоҷикистон, the National Bank of Tajikistan in Tajik. On the regular notes they appear, in straight and inverted form, inside the security thread when the note is held up to the light. On the 100 somoni anniversary note of 2025 the thread flips between the value 100 and the letters БМТ as the note is tilted, while the Kinegram stripe on the 20, 50 and 100 somoni notes shows the bank's emblem with text in Tajik and English.
Is there a 3 somoni note?
Yes. The National Bank added a violet 3 somoni note in 2010, the same year as the 200 and 500 somoni notes. Its front shows Shirinsho Shotemur, whom the bank calls a statesman of Tajikistan, and its back the Majlisi Oli, the parliament building. A 3 somoni coin has circulated since 2001.