Mauritanian ouguiya

Mauritanian ouguiya
أوقية موريتانية (Arabic)
Ouguiya (French)
Current coins
ISO 4217
Code MRU[1]
Denominations
Subunit
 ​1⁄5 khoums
Plural ouguiya
Symbol UM
Banknotes 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 ouguiya[2]
Coins
 Freq. used 1, 5, 10, 20 ouguiya[3][4]
 Rarely used ​1⁄5 ouguiya
Demographics
User(s)  Mauritania
 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Issuance
Central bank Banque Centrale de Mauritanie
 Website www.bcm.mr
Printer Giesecke & Devrient
 Website www.gi-de.com
Valuation
Inflation 1.5%
 Source The World Factbook,[5] 2016 est.

The ouguiya (sign: UM;[6] Arabic: أوقية‎; currency code: MRU[1]), also spelled "ougiya",[7] is the currency of Mauritania. Each ouguiya constitutes five khoums (singular and plural in English, Arabic: خمس‎, meaning "one fifth"). As such it is one of two circulating currencies, along with the Malagasy ariary, whose division units are not based on a power of ten.

The current ouguiya was introduced in 2018, replacing the old ouguiya at a rate of 1 new ouguiya = 10 old ouguiya, which in turn replaced the CFA franc at a rate of 1 old ouguiya = 5 francs. The name "Ouguiya" (أوقية) is the Hassaniya Arabic pronunciation of "Awqiyyah" (أُوقِية), meaning "ounce".

Coins

In 1973, ⅕ (1 khoums), 1, 5, 10 and 20 ouguiya coins were introduced. This was the only year that the khoums was minted, as the ouguiya was worth five CFA Francs a khoums was the equivalent of the franc (which had no subdivision). The most recent issues were in 2003 (1 ouguiya) and 2004 (other denominations). Coins are minted at the Kremnica mint in Slovakia. The coinage slightly changed in 2009, with a reduced 1 ouguiya in plated composition and a bi-metallic 20 ouguiya issued. A bi-metallic 50 ouguiya was issued December 2010.

Banknotes

1000 ouguiya of the new series.

In 1973, notes were issued by the Central Bank of Mauritania (Banque Centrale de Mauritanie) in denominations of 100, 200 and 1,000 ouguiya. In 1974, a second series of notes was issued in the same denominations, with 500 ouguiya notes added in 1979. Banknotes have been printed by Giesecke & Devrient in Munich, starting with the second issue.

New banknotes were introduced in 2004. These notes have completely new fronts and the vignettes on the backs have been redesigned to accommodate the reduction in size. The 2,000-ouguiya denomination is entirely new.

All but the 100- and 200-ouguiya notes have the denomination expressed in Arabic numerals in a holographic patch at right front. The serial numbers for all denominations now appear horizontally at upper left and lower center, and vertically at far right, all formatted with a 2-character prefix, 7-digit serial number, and 1-character suffix.[8]

An entirely new 5,000-ouguiya denomination dated 28.11.2009 was introduced on 8 August 2010, followed by a redesigned 2,000-ouguiya note dated 28.11.2011 issued on 1 February 2012. [8]

Numismatic information

Within Nouakchott, the nation's capital, most coins are in fine to very fine condition; banknotes of 100 and 200 ouguiya tend to be in poor to fair condition, larger denominations are in fine to extremely fine condition.

The Central Bank is unhelpful in providing new condition coins and banknotes. Some interest in setting up a numismatic program exists, however.

Redenomination of the ouguiya

On December 5, 2017, the Central Bank of Mauritania announced a redenomination of its currency at a rate of 1:10. As part of the redenomination, a new series of coins were issued in denominations of 1 khoums (⅕ Ouguiya), 1, 5, 10 and 20 ouguiya, with the latter being struck as a tri-metallic coin and a new series of banknotes in denominations of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 ouguiya. The new ouguiya banknotes issued for the redenomination are printed entirely in polymer. As a consequence of this change, the ISO Currency Codes for the ouguiya were amended to MRU / 929 and the existing codes of MRO / 478 were retired as per ISO 4217 Amendment Number 165 dated 14 Dec 2017. [9]

Current MRO exchange rates
From Google Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From Yahoo! Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From XE: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From OANDA: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From fxtop.com: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "ISO 4217 Amendment Number 165". .currency-iso.org.
  2. ↑ Billets Archived 2008-03-02 at the Wayback Machine., Banque Centrale de Mauritanie
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
  4. ↑ "World Coin News". worldcoinnews.blogspot.com.
  5. ↑ "The World Factbook". cia.gov.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-12-19. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
  7. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of English
  8. 1 2 Linzmayer, Owen (2012). "Mauritania". The Banknote Book. San Francisco, CA.
  9. ↑ https://www.currency-iso.org/en/shared/amendments/iso-4217-amendment.html
First ouguiya
Preceded by:
West African CFA franc
Ratio: 1 ouguiya = 5 francs		 Currency of Mauritania
1973 – 2017		 Succeeded by:
Second ouguiya
Ratio: 1 second ouguiya = 10 first ouguiya
Second ouguiya
Preceded by:
First ouguiya
Ratio: 1 second ouguiya = 10 first ouguiya		 Currency of Mauritania
2018 –		 Succeeded by:
Current


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