History of Banknotes

In 1959, the government of India, in agreement with the Gulf Countries, issued a special currency for circulation in the Arab Gulf region called the Gulf Rupee. This currency in its gold content was equal to the Indian rupee circulating in India, but the Gulf rupee was different in shape as it was marked by the letter (Z) in English language, and was issued in four categories:

Despite the fact that the Gulf rupee had the same trading price against the pound sterling as the Indian rupee, it was not a legal currency that could be traded in India, which raised the disappointment of Gulf merchants resulting that the Gulf rupee was phased out.

In September 1966, Qatar decided to form a currency council of Qatar and Dubai, which was assigned with the task of issuing a new currency called (Qatar-Dubai Riyal), which entered into circulation in September 1966.

The circulation of Qatari and Dubai riyals continued until the establishment of United Arab Emirates and the accession of Dubai to it, as it issued a new currency for it called the UAE dirham in 1973, which led to the liquidation of Qatar and Dubai Monetary Council and the transfer of its assets and liabilities to Qatar Monetary Agency, which a law was issued for establishing it in accordance with the provisions of Law No. (7) Issued on June 19, 1973 and issued for the first time a Qatari currency, the unit of which was the Qatari Riyal at that time.