This article is about Abu Dhabi currency, known as dirham notes.

The UAE dirham notes were first introduced into the Middle Eastern world currency market in late 1971, right at the time when the United Arab Emirates was formed.

Up until that time, the Qatari and Dubai riyal were most widely used as the currency of the area with the exception of in Abu Dhabi where the dinar of Bahrain was being used.

  Pre-1966, the Gulf rupee was the standard of currency used in the Emirates or the Trucial States as they were called then.

The AED is currently ‘pegged’ (given the equivalent of) at 3.6725 dirham notes per US dollar, which is the standard for world currency measurement at the moment.

This rate has been the same since late 1997 but you can almost always find better exchange rates at money changers throughout the city.

You can find money changers in popular places like the malls and the airport in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi currency dirham notes are currently issued in 8 different denominations ranging from 5 dirhams to 1000 dirhams. They are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000. Each bill has distinctive colors and patterns to make them easily recognizable to the naked eye and are equipped with certain safety and security features to help prevent and combat counterfeiting.

On one side, there is Arabic writing and numbers while on the other side the same information is in English so it is still easy for you to be able to use the money in Abu Dhabi without getting confused.

There are also a number of coins that are minted. Each dirham is broken down into 100 fils, exactly like the US dollar is broken into 100 pennies.

The fils coins are denominated as follows; 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 and a 1 dirham coin.

Mostly the 1, 5, and 10 fils coins are not used as merchants tend to round up totals to the next highest 25 fils.

There have been complaints that the newest incarnation of the 1 dirham coin is too close in approximate size to the 50 fils coin so there has been some confusion when giving change.

As with all currencies the world over, values tend to fluctuate with what world trends are doing at the moment. Gold prices and oil prices have a tendency to cause world currency markets to fluctuate from day to day, hour to hour, even minute to minute in some cases. By being given a guaranteed value to the US dollar, Abu Dhabi currency, the AED, is assured of having lasting power in the buying market.

Even though better exchange rates may be found outside of the bank, you’ll be guaranteed at 3.6725 dirham per your US dollar which works out to be about 27 cents. Knowing this will help you calculate your expenses and plan for your budget when you visit Abu Dhabi or Dubai or any of the other United Arab Emirates.

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