Libyan dinar
Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIB : Libyan dinar
The Libyan dinar is the legal currency of Libya. Its ISO 4217 code is "LYD". One Libyan dinar equals 1000 Libyan dirhams.
History
When Libya was a part of the Ottoman Empire, the country used the Ottoman qirsh (XOTP), issuing some coins locally until 1844. When Italy took over the country in 1911, the Italian lira was introduced. In 1943, Libya was split into French and British mandate territories. Algerian francs were used in the French mandate, whilst lira issued by the British Military Authorities were used in the British mandate.When Libya became independent in 1951, the Libyan pound (LYP) was introduced, at a rate of 1 pound = 480 lire = 980 francs. The LYP was divided into 100 piastres and 1000 milliemes. In 1971, the country replaced the pound, at par, with the dinar. The dirham replaced the millieme.
The bank of issue is the Central Bank of Libya, which also supervises the banking system and regulates credit. In 1972 the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank was established to deal with overseas investment.
Coins
There have been 2 series of coins, one in 1975, another in 1979. The main difference is that a horseman replaced the coat of arms of the Federation of Arab Republics (the coat of arms is not to be confused with the current coat of arms of Libya, and the federation is not to be confused with the United Arab Republic.). Both series consist of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dirhams.Banknotes
| Banknote Series of Libyan dinar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series | Denominations | Color | Issued Date | Note |
| 1 | ¼, ½, 1, 5, and 10 dinars | One for each value | 1971 – 1972 | |
| 2 | Green for all denominations | 1980 – 1981 | ||
| 3 | Green as the dominant color for all denomination. Each had its own minor color. | 1984 | ||
| 4 | Multicolor on ¼, ½, and 5 dinars, one predominant color on 1 and 10 dinars. | 1988 –ca. 1990 | ||
| 4, revised | Slight change | ca. 1991 – 1993 | English text on ¼, ½, and 5 dinars was removed | |
| 5 | ¼, ½, 1, 5, 10, and 20 dinars | Multicolor for all denominations | 2002 | |
| 6 | 1, 5, 10 dinars | One for each value (somewhat reverted to series 4 color for 1 and 10 dinars) | 2004 | Easily visible foil or hologram on upper left on obverse as the new anti-counterfeit device |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.