The national Omani currency is the Omani rial, which in the international currency market is designated as OMR.
Description
This currency is a national currency in Oman. You can find it on the map if you look at the Arabian Peninsula, in the southeastern part of which this Arab state is located.
One rial of Oman is divided by 1000 bytes of Oman. Today, the currency of Oman is a rather expensive, stable and very freely convertible currency. This is largely due to the fact that the sultanate is one of the oil exporting countries along with other oil producing countries of the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.
Thanks to petrodollars, Oman managed to develop its economy quite well, thereby raising not only the standard of living of its citizens, but also stabilizing the national currency.
Short story
In the 19th century, Maria Theresa's thalers and Indian rupees were circulated on the territory of modern Oman, since there was no national currency in the country, and even the country itself did not exist at that time.
Then, the rials of Dofari and Saidi were used, which were used as the state currency in Oman until 1970. Between 1959 and 1966, the Persian Gulf rupee was also in circulation. Moreover, several currencies were used simultaneously.
In 1966, the Indian rupee depreciated greatly, therefore, the Gulf countries, which until now had used the rupee as a monetary unit on their territory, were forced to abandon its further application.
In 1970, the rial Saidi became the only national currency of Oman. His rate was equal to the rate of the British pound.
In 1974, the Omani rial was introduced into circulation, which became the only currency in the country. Riyal Saidi was exchanged for Omani at a one to one exchange rate. This banknote is used in the country to this day.
Coins
To date, the Sultanate of Oman officially uses small change coins, which are called bays. In one rial there are a thousand. Coins in denominations of five, ten, twenty five, fifty and one hundred byes are in circulation. The most commonly used of these are coins in denominations of ten, twenty-five and fifty bytes.
As a rule, Omani coins are made of steel plated with either bronze or a copper-nickel alloy.
Banknotes
Today, in the Sultanate of Oman, paper bills are used in denominations of one hundred and two hundred buy, as well as one fourth, one second, one, five, ten, twenty five and fifty riyals.
All inscriptions on the obverse of banknotes are written in Arabic. You can also see a portrait image of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who is not just the legendary person and ruler of Oman, but also, in fact, the founder of this state, since he united the imamat of Oman and the Sultanate of Muscat into a single state of Oman.
On the back of the banknotes are scenes from the life of Arabs, architectural heritage, as well as representatives of the animal world. All inscriptions depicted on the reverse of the notes are not written in Arabic, but in English.
Rial: course
The Omani currency is one of the most expensive in the modern world currency market. This is due to many factors that affect OMR quotes.
First of all, the high cost of the currency is associated with huge financial injections into the economy of Oman thanks to petrodollars. The second point affecting the high cost of a given currency is the stability of the given currency, which in turn is ensured by the stable political and military situation in the country since the 70s of the XX century.
To date, the rial to ruble exchange rate is approximately 148 rubles per rial of Oman. Accordingly, for one ruble you can get no more than 0.007 riyals.
Based on this, it becomes obvious that the currency of Oman is much more than the US dollar or European currency. For one American dollar, you can get about 0.38 OMR, therefore, in one rial contains more than two and a half dollars.
For the euro you can earn about 0.43 riyals, that is, for one rial you can get about 2.3 euros. Thus, it turns out that the Omani currency is much more expensive than any European or American.
It is worth noting that the Omanis are very proud of the national money, so it is not worth going to this country with rubles or other currency unpopular in this country. In Oman, you will only manage to exchange US dollars, euros and British pounds. It will also be easy to exchange Indian rupees.
All other monetary units, and even more so Russian rubles, are almost impossible to use in Oman. By the way, exchange offices in the country work only in the morning, until unbearable heat sets in. Then a break. And from about 16:00 to 20:00 they are again open for work. On Friday, no exchange office.
Oman is a modern and rich country, so there are no problems when paying with plastic bank cards. Debit and credit cards are accepted in almost all stores, cafes and other organizations.
Conclusion
The currency of Oman, like the Sultanate of Oman itself, is stability and firmness. As already mentioned above, Omanis are very proud of their national currency, because the rial symbolizes the independence, stability and strength of Oman.
Due to its high income, oil and gas wealth and the influx of foreign investment, Oman, on the map of which you can find many oil fields, managed to create a powerful and strong economy, as well as a politically stable state. This is the main reason for such a high cost of the national currency of this country and its stability for many years.
Even against other national currencies of the Arab oil exporting countries, the Omani currency stands out. First of all, by the fact that it stands on the world currency market much higher than, say, the UAE dirham or the Saudi riyal.
The difference in the value of the currencies of the countries neighboring Oman can be 5-6, or even more times. This difference is due primarily to a more stable political situation in the country and to greater openness to foreign tourists and investment.