Sunday 11 October 2009

New GCC Currency - A Sneak Peak

A dear friend of mine sent me these pictures of the new GCC unified currency or the GCC Dinar. As you might know the GCC is comprised of 6 countries: UAE, KSA, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. However the monetary union will only contain KSA, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait after Oman withdrew around 2007 and the UAE withdrew earlier this year, after much controversy.

Here are the pictures:





Pic source:

http://www.alaan.cc/pagedetails.asp?nid=39838&cid=37

More info on the unified currency:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaleeji_(currency)

في الإتحاد قوة
(In unity lies strength)

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow... Did they hand a drunk designer some crayons and asked himto be "artistic?"

I could have done a better job, and I suck at that sort of thing!

Our currency is much nicer in design and color, and includes important heritage aspects on them. These have some random Omani girls playing doctor, and some random kid pretending to read as he plays his gameboy?

Anonymous said...

Oh, and just curious, if this is to be the currency of the gulf countries, why is one side in English?

hemlock said...

are they going ahead with the six flags on the currency in the hope that UAE and Oman may sign up in the near future?

BuJ said...

ABIT.. ah... always a nice thing to say :)

what do you propose the other side of the currencies to be? Farsi instead of English?

Hemlock.. howdy.. remember this is a GCC currency, and Oman and the UAE are still full members of the GCC. The monetary union is only one out of many "projects" of the GCC, so withdrawing from the monetary union doesn't mean that you're withdrawing from the GCC.

The UK and Sweden for examples are full EU members but they have chosen to stay outside of the Euro zone.

I hope the UAE will join a single currency and Oman too. I wish the union every success. However in the short term changing currency is always expensive and painful.

rosh said...

Mr BuJ, I find myself agreeing with ABIT.. Plus, if it ain't called a Dirham, it ain't the real deal :)

Anonymous said...

I dont mind it not being called the dirham. I think historically the dirham and the riyal were less used in this region. So Dinar makes sense.

But they are God ugly.

As for what to use on the other side... Go pick up a dollar bill... I see nothing but English on both sides.

Why should a Gulf currency have anything but Arabic on it?

Para Glider said...

Interesting. Is the exchange rate with the non-aligned GCC currencies set yet? I guess it's approx 1:1 with the Bahraini Dinar?

BuJ said...

If I remember my history lessons in school, wasn't the Dinar = 100 Dirhams back in the days.. A Dinar of gold = Dinar of silver in terms of weight, but not value, etc..

however obviously different rulers made their own coins.

Anonymous said...

I wouldnt know BuJassem, Just saying that I really dont think the Dirham was used as much as the Dinar. I think of the 3 choices, Dirham, Dinar, and Riyal, the Dinar would probably be the best choice.

However, if the currency is the Gulf Dinar... what will half a dinar be? 50... Dirhams? Fils? Halala? lol. THat word always cracks me up!

Em said...

i lost interest after the UAE withdrew, which I believe they were perfectly justified in doing.

the 1/2 dinar was funny.

rosh said...

I hear you ABIT. Much has changed the past decade plus. I'd like to see the Dirham - the 1Dh coin and some of those notes, not change as much. Perhaps silly sentiments in the world of economic brutality err progress..

meh!

KJ said...

Six flags, good at least they don't need to redesign it when the rest joins in,, though I think the design is hideous by all standards

BuJ said...

Media Junkie.. i agree with you.. plus regardless of my inherent bias, i think AD is a better place for the central bank than Riyadh.

KJ.. good to see you around :)
indeed, my initial reactions to the DESIGN only were pretty negative, but the idea is great!

Anonymous said...

Th idea is indeed good. But the notes are ugly. fugly even. I'm sure someone somewhere can design something better.

rosh said...

Perhaps a single regional currency MAY become reality, but I think it's too soon now. EU took decades to have the EURO way. There's fragmentation across the GCC. More importantly the GCCians can draw best practices from the global crisis -- stringent regulations that have accountability and oversight across all. I'd say 10 years, but then again, a lot of things need to change beyond the surface.