Historical Sketch

Qatar has been under the rule of the Thani family since the mid-19th century. Originally a dependency of neighboring Bahrain it came under Ottoman sovereignty in 1871. During World War I, the Turkish troops withdrew from Qatar to give way to Great Britain which established a protectorate in 1916. The agreement was terminated in 1971, and Qatar attained independence.

Monetary History Overview

In the early 20th century, Great Britain established a protectorate over the Qatar emirate. 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 India devalued the Rupee in June 1966, the Arab countries using the Gulf Rupee all decided not to follow. Qatar and Dubai had already decided to introduce a distinct currency. At the time of the Indian devaluation, they were not ready yet, therefore Saudi Arabian money replaced the Gulf Rupee as an interim. In September 1966, the Qatar-Dubai Riyal was ready to be issued. It was also adopted by five other Trucial States (Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain). It was initially pegged to the Pound Sterling but repegged to the US Dollar when Great Britain devalued its currency in 1967. In 1971, Dubai and the other Trucial States joined the United Arab Emirates and left the currency union with Qatar in 1973 when the Emirates introduced their own currency. In May 1973, the former common currency was nationalized into the Qatari Riyal. The peg to the US Dollar remained unchanged. In 1975, the Riyal repegged to the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) unit. Already in 1980, it switched back to the US Dollar and has not changed since then.

Qatar joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 08.09.1972.

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