Currency

As many countries control their economy with their own currency, Qatar has its own Qatar currency. The Qatar currency is called the Qatar Riyal. Qatar money or Qatar Riyal is divided into 100 dirhams. There are QAR 50, 10, 500, 100, 5 and 1 as denominations in notes. Qatar currency has its denominations in coins also. These can be referred as 10, 5, 50, 25, and 1 dirhams.

Out of many a denomination, only 50 and 25 coins of the Qatar money are in wide circulation. The Qatar money or Qatari Riyal has close connection with the US Dollar. ATM cards, debit and credit cards are all popular in Qatar. Diners Club, American Express, Visa and MasterCard companies are all present in Qatar with their financial products.

Before 1966, Indian rupees were in use as currency of Qatar. These rupees were used in terms of Gulf rupees. In 1966, India devalued its rupee. As a consequence, Qatar and other Arabian countries using rupee came up with their own currency in use.

Saudi Riyal was introduced in the beginning Qatar. Qatar and Dubai Riyal were introduced afterwards. Qatar introduced Qatar coins in 1973. The sizes and composition were not different. The only change in look was the name of Qatar that was engraved on the coins. They revised the notes were also taken over by the Qatar Central Bank or QCB took over the issuance of paper money in 1996.