The dirham (Arabic: درهم, plural: درهمان , دراهم or درهما) 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 (singular: santim, Arabic singular: سنتيم, plural: سنتيما or سنتيمات). The dirham is issued by the Bank Al-Maghrib, the central bank of Morocco. It is also the de facto currency in Western Sahara. While the dirham is a fully convertible currency, export of the local currency is prohibited by law. The Bank Al-Maghrib is the central bank of the Kingdom of Morocco. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... In linguistics, broken plurals is a grammatical phenomenon typical in many Semitic languages of the Middle East and Ethiopia in which a singular noun is broken to form a plural by having its root consonant embedded in a different frame, rather than by merely adding a prefix or suffix to... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ISO 4217 is the international standard describing three letter codes (also known as the currency code) to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ... The Bank Al-Maghrib is the central bank of the Kingdom of Morocco. ...

History

Before the introduction of a modern coinage in 1882, Morocco issued copper coins denominated in falus, silver coins denominated in dirham and gold coins denominated in benduqi. From 1882, the dirham became a subdivision of the Moroccan rial, with 10 dirham = 1 rial. The rial was the currency of Morocco between 1882 and 1921. ...

The dirham was reintroduced in 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. 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.

General Name, symbol, number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, period, block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Standard atomic weight 26. ... Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper. ... For other uses, see Copper (disambiguation). ... General Name, symbol, number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, period, block 13, 3, p Appearance silvery Standard atomic weight 26. ... General Name, symbol, number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic and silvery with a gold tinge Standard atomic weight 58. ... Cupronickel is an alloy of copper, nickel and strengthening impurities, such as iron and manganese. ... For other uses, see Copper (disambiguation). ... General Name, symbol, number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic and silvery with a gold tinge Standard atomic weight 58. ... General Name, symbol, number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ... General Name, symbol, number chromium, Cr, 24 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 6, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Standard atomic weight 51. ... Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper. ... Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper. ... Cupronickel is an alloy of copper, nickel and strengthening impurities, such as iron and manganese. ...

Banknotes

The first notes denominated in dirham were overprints on earlier franc notes, in denominations of 50 dirham (on 5000 francs) and 100 dirham (on 10,000 francs). In 1965, new notes were issued for 5, 10 and 50 dirham. 100 dirham notes were introduced in 1970, followed by 200 dirham notes in 1991 and 20 dirham in 1996. 5 dirham notes were replaced by coins in 1980, with the same happening to 10 dirham notes in 1995.

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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 rial /rjal/, equivalent to 5 santimat and 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. 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 franc 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 (100,000 rial). This denomination is used in Arabic speaking context especially in popular milieu such as old medina souks or vegetable markets.

50 dirhams and Ksour in the background

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See also

• Economy of Morocco
• Economy of Western Sahara

Moroccos economy is considered a liberal economy governed by the law of supply and demand although certain economic sectors still remain in the hands of the government. ... Economy - overview: Western Sahara, a territory poor in natural resources and lacking sufficient rainfall, depends on pastoral nomadism, fishing, and phosphate mining as the principal sources of income for the population. ...

References

External links

• Don's World Coin Gallery - Morocco
• Ron Wise's World Paper Money - Morocco ^{Mirror site}
• Tables of Modern Monetary Systems by Kurt Schuler - Morocco ^{Mirror site}
• Tables of Modern Monetary Systems by Kurt Schuler - Western Sahara ^{Mirror site}
• The Global History of Currencies - Morocco
• The Global History of Currencies - Western Sahara
• Global Financial Data data series - Morocco Dirham
• Global Financial Data currency histories table ( Microsoft Excel format)
• Numismo