Saudi Riyal
Currency

Overview

Saudi Arabia has one-fourth share of crude and petroleum of the total reserve in the world and this has shaped the economy of this country. To be precise, over 70% of the total revenue of the country is owing to crude oil and this also accounts to 90% total exports as well. Saudi Riyal helps in overall growth of the economy and also averts fluctuations in the Riyal value.

History

Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 and stabilized the monetary units. The common currency was Saudi riyal. The rate of exchange had few corrections later and 1 riyal was = 22 qurush coins and this prevailed till the end. In 1960 it was devalued to 20 qurush coins and eventually in 1963, this currency was decimalized and thereby introduced new subunits to the Saudi riyal "hallalah". In 1952, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) established the Islamic laws with USA and many reforms were done in the currency system enabling a single currency circulation in the country.

Current market trend

Riyal is the currency term used by various countries in the Arabian Peninsula including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Oman and Yemen. The most important currencies is the Saudi Riyal forming the national currency of Saudi Arabia. This is denoted by SR sign in English or in Arabic. The currency code is SAR and 682 is the numeric code. ‘Hallalah’ is the subunit. The Saudi Riyal was pegged on a fixed rate regime to the US dollar and continues the same rated. The exchange rate is 10 riyals = 1 dinar and 1 US dollar= 3.75 riyals.

Structure

The subunit "hallalah" was introduced in 1963 converting the currency system into a decimalized one. The flow of currency is handled by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) since riyal was declared to be the official currency. The coins are minted by SAMA, but 1 hallalah coin is not in circulation. The banknotes are also issued by SAMA, but they come in different color combinations. 1 riyal in dark brown and orange, 5 riyal in dark purple, brown and blue, 10 riyal in grey, purple and brown, and so on.