Libyan Dinar

In the country of Libya, the Libyan dinar is used as the legal currency up to this very day. The dinar is called “jni” in dialects in Western Libya while their Eastern counterparts refer to it as “jneh”. The dinar is subdivided into 1000 dirham. LYD is its ISO standard code. The name “dinar” is rarely being used outside the official boundaries of the country. Even its functional unit called the dirham is rarely or even not used in daily conversation. The word “garsh” is being used instead. It is said that 1 garsh is equivalent to 10 dirhams.

The introduction of the Libyan dinar in the country happened in the year 1971 after replacing the pound. Issuance of this monetary currency is handled by the Central bank of Libya that at that time oversaw the bank system, as well as regulates the credit. By the year 1972, however, it is the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank that has started to foresee dealings such as overseas investments.

Coins and banknotes were issued to represent the currency. The old coins issued in Libya in milliemes denomination circulated the country until 1975; the coins that bore the coat of arms of the Federation of Arab Republics were in use. The denominations during this time were of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dirham. In 1979 the second or next coin series was issued with similar denominations but this time the coins bore the image of a horseman. Later new coins in the denominations of ½ and ¼ were introduced; this was in the year 2004. Although, the 1, 5, 10 and 20 coins are seldom utilized as exchange units, they all remain to be legal type of the Libyan currency.

The banknotes on the other hand were brought in 1971 with denominations of ¼, ½, 1, 5 and 10 dinar. It was not later than 2002 that the 20 note was introduced in the country. The Central Bank of Libya had issued the 50 dinar notes to circulate the country on the 31st of August 2008. These circulated dinar notes hold within their print an image of Muammar al – Gaddafi as one of the country’s leaders in the obverse.

Throughout history and time, it is said that the Libyan currency was named by the Libyans as “Omar El–Mokhtar” in honor of the Libyan figure and freedom fighter. Such little change in a stable currency generates the idea of a well handled country. At present, one can exchange a US dollar for 1.22 Libyan dinar.

Libyan Dinar