Iranian rial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ISO 4217 Code | IRR |
| User(s) | Iran |
| Inflation | 13.5% |
| Source | The World Factbook, 2005 est. |
| Subunit | |
| 1/100 | dinar |
| Symbol | ريال |
| Coins | 50, 100, 250, 500 rials |
| Banknotes | 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000, 20 000 rials |
| Central bank | Bank Markazi Iran |
| Website | www.cbi.ir |
The rial (ریال in Persian; ISO 4217 code IRR) is the official currency of Iran. It consists of 100 dinars, but because of very low current value of the rial, no fraction of the rial is used in accounting.
The rial replaced an older currency known as the Iranian toman. Even though this replacement took place in the early 20th century, the term toman is still used today; for example, most Iranians think in tomans when discussing money; which could mean 10, 10,000 or 10,000,000 rials, depending on the context (see toman).
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[edit] History
The rial was first introduced in 1798 as a coin worth 1250 dinars or one eighth of a toman. In 1825, the rial ceased to be issued, with the qiran of 1000 dinars (one tenth of a toman) being issued as part of a decimal system. The rial replaced the kran at par in 1932, although it was divided into one hundred (new) dinars. The toman is no longer an official denomination but the term still enjoys wide usage among Iranians today as an amount of ten rials. Most Iranians state the value of things in tomans - not rials. In fact, prices are currently most commonly marked in "tomans",sometimes meaning 1000 tomans. In 1979, after the Islamic Revolution, Iranian banknotes featuring the Shah's face were counterstamped with intricate designs to cover the Shah's face.
[edit] Islamic Republic
The value of Iran's currency has declined precipitously since 1979[1]. Whereas on 15 March 1978 71.46 rials equaled one US dollar, on 18 September 2006 9,202 rials amounted to one US dollar. (See Iran Currency Exchange Rate History: 1975 - 2006).
[edit] Symbol
There is no official symbol for the currency, but the Iranian standard ISIRI 820 defined a symbol for use on typewriters, and the two Iranian standards ISIRI 2900 and ISIRI 3342 define a character code to be used for it. The Unicode Standard has a compatibility character defined for "RIAL SIGN" [﷼] at the position U+FDFC.
[edit] Coins
Coins in circulation are: 50, 100, 250, and 500 rials. The 5 and 10 rials are still legal tender but not issued anymore.
[edit] Banknotes
Banknotes in circulation are: 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000 and 20,000 rials. Portraits of Ruhollah Khomeini are found on the obverse of the 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000 and 20,000 rials banknotes.
[edit] Cash Cheques
Currently the highest valued legal tender printed by the Central Bank is 20,000 rials ($2.17). However the Central Bank allows major State Banks to print their own banknote known as "Cash Cheques". They are a form of certified bearer-checks with pre-determined amounts, printed in form of official banknotes. Once they are aquired from banks, they work just like cash, however some stores may reject the higher value notes as they are not officially a legal tender. They are printed in 200,000; 500,000; 1000,000; 2000,000 and 5000,000 rial values.[2]
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
| Dinars | |
|---|---|
| Current | Algerian dinar | Bahraini dinar | Islamic gold dinar | Iraqi dinar | Jordanian dinar | Kuwaiti dinar | Libyan dinar | Macedonian denar | Tunisian dinar | Serbian dinar | Sudanese dinar |
| Defunct | Abu Dhabi dinar | Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar | Croatian dinar | Krajina dinar | Republika Srpska dinar | South Arabian dinar | South Yemeni dinar | Yugoslav dinar |
| As subunit | Iranian rial |
| See also | E-dinar |
