Historical Sketch

Kuwait has been under the rule of the Sabah family since the mid-18th century. To cope with Ottoman threats of annexation, the Anglo-Kuwaiti treaty of 1899 erected a British protectorate. In 1961, the British withdrew, and the Emirate of Kuwait attained independence. In August 1990, neighboring Iraq invaded Kuwait and subsequently annexed it as a 19th Iraqi province. This triggered the (second) Gulf War in which a US-led international coalition attacked Iraq and liberated Kuwait in February 1991.

Monetary History Overview

Already before the protectorate, the British Indian currency got introduced via foreign trade, and the Indian Rupee also remained current after Indian independence. In 1959, the Indian Central Bank decided to issue separate banknotes for the states on the Persian Gulf in order to have better control over the money supply. This created a special form of the Indian currency, the so-called Gulf Rupee. When Kuwait attained independence 1961 a currency board was established to take over the monetary affairs. The Kuwaiti Dinar was created as national currency at par with the Pound Sterling. The Dinar repegged to the US Dollar when Britain devalued its currency in 1967. The exchange rate got floated in May 1975 but has remained close to the former peg since then.

Kuwait joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 13.09.1962.

Currency Units Timeline

Currency Institutes Timeline

Monetary History Sources