Reference Site for Islamic Banknotes

Items that made News in 2004

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Bangladesh

Bangaldesh has made changes to its 500-taka note which constitute a new type. The three simple changes to the old note are: These notes appear with the date 2004 and were issued on 24/10/2004.
[Submitted by Erwin Beyer -- December 2004]

Sudan

Sudan to introduce new currency in hopes of strengthening unity
Agence France Presse (AFP) -- Wednesday, December 01, 2004
KHARTOUM: Sudanese plans to introduce a new currency to replace the dinar are designed to depict the unity and diversity of the country, Finance Minister Al-Zubair Mohammed al-Hassan has said.
Hassan was quoted by official Omdurman radio Tuesday as telling a meeting of Sudanese businessmen a day earlier that the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army agreed on the change to be "more expressive of the unity and diversity" of Sudan.
The change would cost $80 million, which would be covered in the fiscal 2005 budget.
It was not immediately clear whether the government would simply print new banknotes, with a new name, or also change the exchange rate.
Ten years ago, Sudan adopted the dinar to replace the Sudanese pound. It currently trades at about 260 to the dollar.
[Submitted by Nazir Rahemtulla -- December 2004]

Mauritania

Mauritania has issued a new series notes. The notes carry a date of 28.11.2004. The issue consists of notes in the denominations: 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 ouguiya. All notes are the same size.
[Submitted by Claudio Marana and Jean-Michael Engels-- December 2004]

Iraq

The Central Bank of Iraq now has a web site. It can be found at http://www.cbiraq.org/
[Submitted by Peter Symes -- December 2004]

Pakistan

Press Release from the State Bank of Pakistan -- 23rd November, 2004
STATE BANK TO ISSUE RS.50/- & RS.100/- BANK NOTES WITHOUT STAPLING.
The State Bank of Pakistan has decided to issue fresh bank notes of Rs. 50/- and Rs. 100/- denominations without stapling but with proper banding. Accordingly, all SBP Banking Services Corporation offices / branches will issue fresh currency of Rs. 50/- and Rs. 100/- denominations in unstapled form with immediate effect. Commercial banks have also been asked to ensure removal of pins from all notes of these denominations including the notes in reissuable form forthwith and issue the same to the general public in properly banded form.
It may, however, be clarified that both the stapled and unstapled notes of Rs. 50/- and Rs. 100/- denominations would continue to remain in circulation till such time the banks withdraw the stapled notes in non-issuable condition, leaving behind only the unstapled clean notes.
The SBP BSC has made special arrangements across the country for ample supply of fresh and re-issuable notes of good quality to the public and has withdrawn an unprecedented quantity of soiled / defective notes from circulation. The Public at large is also requested to ensure that soiled / mutilated, torn and dirty notes are replaced with clean and good quality notes. To achieve this objective, the public is advised not to put staple pins or any other sticky binding material on these notes.
It may be recalled that as a part of “SBP Clean Note Policy” and on the recommendations of the Task Force on Currency Management, bank notes of Rs. 5/- and Rs. 10/- denominations are being issued without staple pins since October 2003. As a step further in this direction, the SBP has now decided to issue bank notes of Rs.50/- & Rs.100/- denominations also without stapling.
[Submitted by Peter Symes -- November 2004]

Morocco

Morocco has issued a new 200-dirham banknote on or about 4 November 2004.
[Submitted by Drazen Percaic -- November 2004]

Iraq

As previously forecast, the notes if the Central Bank of Iraq are now being issued with the signature of Sinan Al Shibeebi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq. When the current series were first issued, following the overthrow of Saddam Husein, they carried the signature of the Deputy Governor as the Governor had not been appointed at the time the notes were prepared. The only note of the original issue that has been recorded with the new signature is the 10,000-dinar note. It carries the date 2004. Other denominations with the same modifications are expected to follow in the near future.
[Submitted by Layth Al Muderis and Haider Al Saffar -- November 2004]

Pakistan

Pakistan is to release two news notes, a 5000-rupee note and a 20-rupee note. The 5000-rupee note was illustrated in Pakistan's newspaper Daily News on 29 October 2004. The front of the note carries an updated portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and the back of the note carries an illustration of the modern Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. While there is no indication as yet as to the design of the 20-rupee note, it is understood that there are also plans to re-design the 50- and 1000-rupee notes in the near future.
[Submitted by Yahya Qureshi -- October 2004]

Iraq

Iraq has introduced a new 500-dinar note to complement their post-Saddam issue. The note carries a picture of the Dockdan Dam on the front of the note and a winged Assyrian ox and Assyrian priest on its back. Both images have been used previously on Iraqi banknotes. Significantly, the new note is signed by Sinan Al Shibeebi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, whereas the earlier notes in this issue carried the signature of the Deputy Governor. The note carries the dates 2004/1425.
[Submitted by Layth Al Muderis and Haider Al Saffar -- October 2004]

Libya

A report has been received that Libya has re-issued the 1-, 5- 10-dinar notes in a reduced size, while retaining the colours and design. A little surprising after such a short period of time. (Updates will be made to the reference charts on confirmation of this report.)
[Submitted by Claudio Marana -- October 2004]

Bangladesh

Notes dated 2004 are now being issued. The 10-, 20- and 50-taka notes have so far been recorded with the new dates.
[Submitted by Didar Absar and Nazir Rahemtulla -- October 2004]

Jordan

Notes with a new signature variety are now appearing for the current series in Jordan. This is signature number 25 and so far only the 20- and 50-dinar notes have been recorded with the new signature.
[Submitted by Sejin Ahn -- October 2004]

UAE

The 50-dirham note has been issued in a design similar to the 100- and 500-dirham notes. THat is, it now has the electro-type watermark of the coffe pot and the denomination and it now has a silver stamp. The stamp is of a circular rim stamped with the denomination, within which is the head of an oryx (which is the subject of the illustration on the front of the note).
[Submitted by Claudio Marana, Ian Walters and Nazir Rahemtulla -- September 2004]

Yemen

The Central Bank of Yemen has issued a new 1000-rial banknote. Although the illustrations on the note and the design of the note are the same as for the previous 1000-rial note, there are a myriad differences. Principally, nearly every colour on the note has been altered to some degree, some subtly and some significantly, but some of the other changes are: [Submitted by Peter Symes -- August 2004]

Iraq

The 100- and 250-dianr notes dated respectively 1994 and 1995 (Nos. 84 and 85) were printed on two different types of paper. The original paper was white and the second type of paper was dark. The differences between the notes may be confused by the varying shades of colour that can be found on these notes, but when notes of different coloured paper are laid side by side, the difference is apparent. While the differences are largely apparent to the eye, they become more apparent when the notes are submitted to ultra-violet light. The white paper fluoresces, but the dark paper does not. In both cases the dark paper is used for printing the earlier variety of text on the notes. By the time the slight changes in text appeared on these notes, the bank notes were once again printed on white paper. Thus we have two new varieties of these notes, based on the type of paper.
[Submitted by Layth al-Muderis and Peter Symes -- August 2004]

Turkey

The following extract is from TurkishPress.com
New 1 Turkish Lira Note Already Printed
CihanNews: 7/1/2004
ANKARA (CIHAN) - The deputy chairman of the Turkish Central Bank, Sükrü Binay stated on Thursday that the printing of the new 1 Turkish lira (YTL) banknote had been completed and that the 1 YTL notes had already been delivered to 29 branches of the Central Bank. He also announced that the printing of the 5 YTL banknote would be commenced in July.
Attending a seminary organized in Ankara, Binay said that the promotion of the new banknotes would begin in September.
Binay stated, "A total of 470,000 new banknotes will be printed with new security measures incorporated in the notes. The delivery of the new banknotes will be completed in September 2004".
Turkey will remove six zeros from the Turkish Lira by the end of 2004. The new 1 TL note will be equal to 1 million TL and 100 kurus will equal the 1 new TL which will go into circulation on January 1, 2005. The new TL and current TL will be in joint circulation during 2005 with the current TL being completely withdrawn from circulation by the end of 2005.
[July 2004]

Iran

A 20,000-rial note was issued in Iran in early June with a new signature variety. The signature belongs to Safdar Hosseini, who was appointed Iran's Minister of Finance in April 2004. It is understood that notes in the denominations of 50,000 and 100,000 rials will be issued in 2005.
[Submitted by Dr. S. Kazem AHADI -- June 2004]

Egypt

A new book on Egyptian paper money has recently been issued. Titled The Egyptian Banknote -- Encyclopedia & Catalogue of Egyptian Money and written by Eng. Magdy Hanafi, with English version by Dr. Ali Mehilba, the book was published in Cairo in 2004. The book contains 350 pages of fine detail on the banknotes issued in Egypt. The book has colour photographs of all banknotes issued by the central banks of Egypt, with descriptions and commentary in Arabic and English. The level of detail is superb. Signature varieties, dates, prefixes, descriptions, replacement notes and number of notes issued are all included. There is nothing left to the imagination! It is destined to be the standard work for Egyptian notes for a long, long time. The only disappointment awaiting the dedicated Egyptian collector is that it does not cover the low denomination notes issued by the Government of Egypt (but perhaps another volume is in the making). The book can be obtained from Dr. Ali Mehilba. (Cost is approximately $55.00, but this should be confirmed.)
[Submitted by Peter Symes -- May 2004]

Kuwait

Mahmoud Abdelkhaliq Al-Nouri was appointed Minister of Finance for Kuwait in July 2003. His signature now appears on the 20-Dinar banknote of Kuwait. In the meantime, the signature of Dr. Yousuf Hamad Al-Ibrahim now appears on all denominations except for the 10-dinar note.
[Submitted by Nazir Rahemtulla -- May 2004]

Bahrain

Work continues towards the creation of a Central Bank in Bahrain, to replace the Bahrain Monetary Agency. It is understood that processes for the introduction of the new monetary authority and new banknotes are well underway. The delay is with the legislative process. It is believed that the new banknotes, which will be introduced under the authority of the new central bank, will be available by December 2004 (or maybe January 2005).
[Submitted by Peter Symes -- May 2004]

UAE

The United Arab Emirates has issued a 500-dirham note with the dates 1424/2004. While principally the same as the previous issues, the new date variety carries the electro-type watermarks of '500' and a coffe pot (similar to the 100-dirham with the silver stamp). However, it also appears that there may be a modified watermark, with the distinguishing feature being that the beak of the falcon is open on the latest offering, whereas it has always been closed on prevous issues.
[Submitted by Murray Hanewich -- March 2004]

Iran

After some time, the new 20,000 Rial note of Iran has been released on 15th March,2004. Issued by Central Bank of Iran, it carries Signature 30 (Sheibani - Mazaheri). A portrait of Khomeini is on the front of the note and on the back is a view from Meidan-e Emam (the Imam's Square) in Isfahan. The mosque is the Masjed-e-Emam or the Imam's Mosque (formerly called the Masjed-e-Shahand or Royal Mosque), while the building to the right is the palace of Ali Qapu. The watermark is Khomeini. Size: 163 X 78 mm. Colour : Blue. This is the the first 20,000 Rial issued by IRAN.
Also introduced are the 500- and 5000-rial notes with the sigantures of Sheibani and Mazaheri.
[Submitted by Dr.S.Kazem Ahadi, Armen Hovsepian and Caludio Marana -- March 2004]

Iran

The 10,000-rial note has been placed in circulation with the signature of Ebrahim Sheibani, the new General Director of the Central Bank of Iran. Ebrahim Sheibani was appointed as head of the Central Bank in May 2003 following the unexpected death, by heart attack, of Mohsen Nourbakhsh in March 2003.
In other developments, it has been confirmed that Iran will issue a new denomination of 20,000 rials on 21 March 2004, the Iranian New Year.
[Submitted by Michael Walker and Armen Hovsepian -- February 2004]

Egypt

Dr. Farouk Abdel Baky El Okdah has been appointed as Governor & Chairman of the Central Bank of Egypt, according to a press release dated 1 December 2003. He replaces Mahmoud Abul-Oyoun. The signature of the new Governor has already appeared on a new note! A 100-pound note dated 29/12/2003 is the first note to carry the new signature.
[Submitted by Amal Hassan -- January 2004]

Somaliland

Details of late issues from Somaliland continue to emerge. It is now known that the 50-shilling note has been issued with a date of 1999. A note has been sighted with the serial number prefix of BT. (100- and 500-shilling notes with dates after 1996 were reported last year.)
[Submitted by Nazir Rahemtulla -- January 2004]

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