Currency in Bahrain

The official currency in Bahrain is the Bahraini Dinar. The internationally established ISO code is BHD, where BH stands for Bahrain and D for Dinar. The Bahrain Dinar has been the official currency in Bahrain since the changeover in 1965.

The subunit of the dinar is called fils, a dinar has 1000 fils. The Fils coins are available in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500. The latter coin was only available from the year 2000. The dinar is available as banknotes in denominations of 1/2, 1, 5, 10 and 20 units.

History of the Bahrain Dinar

The official currency of the Bahrain Dinar is very closely linked to the historical development of the island state of Bahrain. Bahrain was a British protectorate from 1867 to 1971. Bahrain declared independence on August 14, 1971. However, the Bahrain Dinar was introduced before the declaration of independence in 1971.

Like India, Bahrain was a former British colony. Traditionally, there have been close trade ties between the Gulf States and India. So it was obvious that a currency linked to the Indian rupee would be introduced in Bahrain and other neighboring countries. This took place in 1959, through an agreement between Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and other states in the region. The official name of this currency was the Gulf rupee.

The conversion ratio of the Gulf rupee to the Indian rupee was 1: 1, the Reserve Bank of India acted as the central bank. The Gulf rupee was the official currency in Bahrain until 1965. Then the Bahraini dinar was introduced. The exchange ratio between the Gulf rupee and the Bahraini dinar was 10: 1, as for 10 rupees one received 1 dinar.

In 2008 the old banknotes were replaced by banknotes with new designs. The Bahrain Dinar has been pegged to the US dollar since 2001. If you measure the Bahrain Dinar according to its value, then it is the second most valuable currency in the world after the Kuwait Dinar. Due to the high oil revenues of the state of Bahrain, the dinar has lost little of its value against other currencies.

Exchange of foreign currencies into dinars

If you want to exchange a foreign currency amount for dinars or vice versa, you can use a currency calculator to inquire about the conversion value. Foreign currencies can be exchanged both abroad and in Bahrain. Due to the stable value and the official peg to the USD, an exchange at home or abroad has no serious effects or disadvantages.