The dirham, plural:, is the currency of Morocco. The plural form is pronounced
darahim, although in French and English "dirhams" is commonly used. Its ISO 4217
code is "MAD". It is subdivided into 100 santimat. The dirham is issued by the
Bank Al-Maghrib, the central bank of Morocco.
History Before the introduction of a modern
coinage in 1882, Morocco issued copper coins denominated in falus, silver coins
denominated in dirham & gold coins denominated in benduqi. From 1882, the
dirham became a subdivision of the Moroccan rial, with 50 Mazunas = 10
dirham = 1 rial. When most of Morocco became a French
protectorate in 1912 it switched to the Moroccan franc. The dirham was
reintroduced on 16 October 1960. It replaced the franc as the major unit of
currency but, until 1974, the franc continued to circulate, with 1 dirham =
100 francs. In 1974, the santim replaced the franc.
Coins In 1960, silver 1 dirham coins were
introduced. These were followed by nickel 1 dirham and silver 5 dirham
coins in 1965. In 1974, with the introduction of the santim, a new
coinage was introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 santimat and 1
dirham. The 1 santim coins were aluminium, the 5 up to 20 santimat were
minted in brass, with the highest two denominations in cupro-nickel.
Cupro-nickel 5 dirham coins were added in 1980 and changed to a bi-metal coin
in 1987. The bi-metal coins bear two year designations for the issue
date—1987 in the Gregorian calendar and the 1407 in the Islamic calendar. The 1
santim was only minted until 1987 when new designs were introduced, with a ½
dirham replacing the 50 santimat without changing the size or composition. The
new 5 dirham coin was bimetallic, as was the 10 dirham coin introduced in 1995.
Cupro-nickel 2 dirham coins were introduced in 2002. In 2011, a new
series of coins has been issued, with the 5 and 10 dirham coin utilizing a
latent image as a security feature. Banknotes
The first notes denominated in dirham were overprints on earlier franc notes,
in denominations of 50 dirhams and 100 dirhams. In 1965, new notes were issued
for 5, 10 and 50 dirhams. 100 dirham notes were introduced in 1970, followed
by 200 dirham notes in 1991 and 20 dirham notes in 1996. 5 dirham notes
were replaced by coins in 1980, with the same happening to 10 dirham notes in
1995. In mid-October 2009, Bank Al-Maghrib issued four million 50-dirham
banknotes to commemorate the bank's 50th anniversary. The commemorative note
measures 147 x 70 mm and features the portraits of Kings Mohammed VI, Hassan
II, and Mohammed V. The back of the notes features the headquarters of Bank
Al-Maghrib in Rabat. The speech delivered in 1959 by Mohammed V at the
opening of Bank Al-Maghrib is microprinted on the back.
In December 2012, Bank-Al Maghrib issued a 25-dirham banknote to commemorate the
25th anniversary of banknote production at the Moroccan State Printing Works,
Dar As-Sikkah. It is the first banknote in the world to be printed on Durasafe,
a paper-polymer-paper composite substrate produced by Fortress Paper.
The front of the commemorative note features an intaglio vignette and a
watermark of King Mohammed VI, and a magenta-green color shift security
thread. The thread, like the watermark, is embedded inside the banknote yet
visible behind a one-sided Viewsafe polymer window. It also has a fully
transparent polymer window embossed with the King's royal crest. The back of the
note carries a print vignette commemorating 25 years of banknote
printing at the Moroccan State Printing Works, Dar As-Sikkah. The windows in
Durasafe are formed by die cutting each side of the three layer composite
substrate separately. One-sided Viewsafe windows give a clear view inside the
substrate where the thread and the watermark of King Mohammed VI are
protected, but fully visible behind the polymer core. The transparent Thrusafe
window is created by die-cutting both the outer paperlayers to reveal only the
transparent polymer core. On August 15, 2013, Bank Al-Maghrib has
announced a new series of banknotes. The notes feature a portrait of King
Mohammed VI and the royal crown. Each of the notes show a Moroccan door to the
left of the portrait, demonstrating the richness of the country's architectural
heritage, and symbolizing the openness of the country.
Popular denominations and usage Popular denominations are words widely
used in Morocco to refer to different values of the currency; they are not
considered official by the state, though. Those include the rial,
equivalent to 5 santimat, and the franc [frˤɑnk], equivalent to 1 santim.
Usually, when dealing with goods with a value lower than a dirham, it is common
to use the rial or santim. For very high priced goods, such as cars, it is
normative to refer to the price in santimat. However, rial is used when
speaking in Arabic and centime when speaking in French. Though not used by
the young generation, the denomination 1000, 2000, ... to 100,000 francs will
be used by people who lived during the French colonial period when referring to
10, 20 and 1000 dirham. Likewise, rial is also used for higher value than
portions of the dirham, reaching 5000 dhs. This denomination is used in
Moroccan Arabic speaking context, especially in popular milieu such as old
medina souks or vegetable markets. See also
Economy of Morocco Notes
References External links