HISTORY: UAE CURRENCY

Like the country itself, the dirham is relatively new – as it was introduced in 1973.
Before that, most of the area was on the Qatari and Dubai riyal (which the dirham
replaced on par) while Abu Dhabi used the Bahraini dinar – which was replaced at a
value of 1 dirham = 0.1 dinar. Before these currencies, the Gulf rupee (issued by the
Indian government) was used, along with other currencies during the long period of
British rule and influence.

UAE DIRHAM VALUE

While the AED has maintained an official peg to special drawing rights (FX reserves
maintained by the IMF), the currency is in actuality pegged to the USD. The peg has
been set at 1 USD = 3.6725 dirhams since 1997. The largest recent fluctuation
occurred on November 30, 2007, when the AED rose slightly to a value of 3.6500 to
1 USD. Other than this, the rate has remained more or less constant compared to the
USD, resulting in a consistent, albeit slightly anticlimactic, graph.
USD to AED Chart
18 Jan 2008 00:00 UTC - 14 Jan 2018 15:17 UTC

USD/AED close:3.67250 low:3.66010 high:3.68645