The official currency of Morocco is the dirham, or rather, the Moroccan dirham. The currency accepted in the country has a history of almost 1500 years. It is from the old, Arab, dirham that modern monetary units originated not only in Morocco, but also in the UAE, Libya, Qatar and Jordan.
A bit of history: where did the Arab dirham come from?
The first silver dirham found dates back to the 6th century AD, and this currency became widespread in the Middle Ages, when coins were minted in large cities along the Great Silk Road. The word itself is a derivative reading of the Greek drachma.
Portraits of people were never applied to old Arab coins, which corresponds to the previously strictly observed canons of Islam.
Arab dirhams had different weights, depending on where they were minted. The oldest ones are about 3, 9 grams. But some peoples also made rather large specimens. For example, Tokharistan coins weighed 11 grams with a diameter of 38-45 millimeters.
The peak of the spread of Arab dirhams, scientists determine 800-1012 years. Moreover, coins in small quantities were even able to penetrate into the circulation of the states of Eastern and Northern Europe.
Scientists also single out one type of ancient currency - the Tatar (Crimean) dirhem, which was in use during the existence of the Golden Horde. Silver coins had a relatively low weight of 1, 4-1, 5 grams. The minters decorated them with Arabic script and inscriptions with the names of the rulers, as well as indicating the year and place of issue.
Moroccan currency: what is it?
The official currency of Morocco is printed by the country's Central Bank (Bank al-Maghrib, founded in 1959). The dirham is a currency that, like the Russian rubles, is divided into 100 smaller "money" - centimes.
The currency designation of the dirham, adopted for exchange, exchange and other operations - Dh.
The dirham was not always the official currency of the country, which survived the issue only in 1960. Before that, the Moroccan franc was in use.
The Central Bank of Morocco issues banknotes of various denominations - 20, 50, 100 and 200 dirhams, as well as coins of 0, 5, 1, 2, 5 and 10 dirhams. The rate of the Moroccan currency is quite stable and in the past few years has been kept at a constant level - about 8-10 dirhams for one US dollar. The ratio does not tend to rise or fall sharply.
The modern Moroccan currency of the 2002 series, which is the most popular to date, has the following colors and features:
- 20 dirhams of purple color depicts a portrait of King Mohammed VI and the Udaya fortress;
- 50 green - the same acting king and adobe building on the back;
- 100 dirhams in brown depicts the deceased kings Mohammed V, Mohammed VI and Hasan II, as well as the famous demonstration "Green March";
- 200 light blue - Mohammed VI and Hassan II, the window of the Hassan II mosque on the back side.
There is also one rule that tourists traveling to Morocco need to know. In an Arab country, a law has been passed according to which an amount exceeding $ 500 in national currency cannot be exported from Morocco. That is about 4000-5000 dirhams. If someone nevertheless needs to do this, it is necessary to obtain a special permission letter from the Central Bank of the country.
