Baghdad
U.S. authorities will issue new Iraqi currency to replace dinars carrying the grinning image of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. The new design will be based on the faceless Swiss dinar, Iraq’s pre-1991 currency, which still circulates in the country’s northern Kurdish areas. The new dinar will be introduced into circulation during a three-month period beginning Oct. 15, to be exchanged “at parity” with the old ones. Some Iraqis expressed joy at the redesign. “We will be happy to get rid of Saddam’s face,” Baghdad money-changer Hillal Sultan told Agence France-Presse, “and this useless money.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.