Libyan Money Notes & Coins

Saddek Omar Elkaber, current head of the Libyan Central Bank, told Reuters that "the first delivery of the war-torn country's new banknotes still nearly two months away . . . The first shipment will arrive at the end of December... We are going to have to manage the liquidity problem until then." But as of today, the 7th of January 2012, most Libyans are yet to see the new currency. All the notes shown in this page are still in use in Libya. We will update this page with the new currency as soon as we have a complete set of the new currency.

On the 14th of January 2012 Libya.tv announced that the CBL had started withdrawing old currency from circulation, apparently to "restore liquidity into the country’s banking system" after it found that the vast majority of funds are being kept outside banks -- in excess of 15 billion dinars (or 96% of available money), the governor of CBL said. The transition will initially start with "fifty dinar banknotes".  The last date for handing in the 50-dinar bill is the 15th of March 2012.

"The bank’s deputy governor, Ali Mohammed Salem, told Reuters last month that the central bank’s major concern was to restore liquidity in the Libyan banking system, which was depleted of its dinar reserves when Gaddafi’s entourage seized 3-4 billion dinars from the central bank. They also seized 2.3 billion dinars worth of gold, he said."

 

 

 

One Libyan Dinar Note:

The Libyan Dinar (دينار ليبي) was introduced in 1971 by the Central Bank of Libya as a replacement of the Jonayh, Jnee, or Gnee; which recalls the old English guinea (: originally was worth more than one pound: about £1.05 in today's money. The old English guinea was used to pay gentlemen like artists, but the pound was the common unit used to pay ordinary workers like labourers). ISO 4217 (or the currency code) of the Libyan Dinar is LYD, which sometimes is found as LD.

 

The Value of The Libyan Dinar (1LYD):

The Libyan Dinar was worth $3.3 (US dollars) and remained so strong until the 1980s, after which it began to gradually fall. Today it is worth less than a dollar (about $0.80). The rate of the American dollar in the Libyan black market has reached ten times that of the Libyan rate in 1996; which led the Libyan government to relax its grip on selling dollars to the Libyan people and thereby succeeding in lowering this rate to the average of three times that of the Libyan rate. Foreign travellers and visitors must not leave the country with more money than they initially declared when they arrived.

 

The Units of The Libyan Dinar:

• One Libyan dinar (LYD 1) = 100 qirsh = 1000 dirham (or mellim).
• Qirsh = 10 dirham.
• The smallest coin in circulation is 5 qirsh (50 mellim or milliemes) or 5 pence.
• The copper 1 pence and 2 pence coins are no longer in circulation, but are available from Libyan banks.

The Libyan Dinar comes in the following notes:

• ¼ dinar (this note is no longer valid from the 1st of October 2010 - only the coin is accepted [see bottom of this page])
• ½ dinar (this note is no longer valid from the 1st of October 2010 - only the coin is accepted [see bottom of this page])
• 1 dinar
• 5 dinars
• 10 dinars
• 20 dinars
• 50 dinars

A Quarter of Libyan Dinar Note:

A note of quarter dinar (or 25 pence).

The reverse side, showing the Fort of Murzuq, with unbelievably tall palms!

 

 

Top Banks of Libya:

There are about ten major banks in Libya: the Central Bank of Libya,   the Agriculture Bank, the National Commercial Bank, the Commerce & Development Bank, the Arab Foreign Bank, the Savings and Real Estate Investment Bank, the Sahara Bank, al-Jamahiriya Bank, the Umma Bank, and the Wahda Bank.  For more details, please see our Libyan Banks page.

 

Half Libyan Dinar Note:

 

Exchanging Money in Libyan Banks:

It can be disappointing to travellers to find out that many banks in Libya, particularly those located in small towns and villages, are not authorised to deal in foreign currency and as such unable to exchange foreign currency for Libyan money. Only large banks or money shops (exchange bureaus) offer this services. It is perfectly safe to carry large amount of cash with you in Libya, and therefore exchanging small amounts at a time can be impractical at times. Always bring cash with you into the country.

 

Check the latest currency rates at the Central Bank of Libya: http://cbl.gov.ly/home/xrates.php

 

Five Libyan Dinars Note:

 

Western Union & Cash:

Branches of Western Union are available in Libya as agents of Libya's Bank of Commerce and Development, and their offices are located inside the banks. According to Libyan law you must not leave Libya with more money in your possession than the money you had when you first arrived. Generally speaking, cash is normally used by most tourists. If you are coming from Tunisia, then you might would like to know that in a joint conference with the Tunisian Prime Minister, the Secretary of the Libyan GPS has announced that from the 15^th of January 2007 the Libyan and Tunisian dinars will be accepted in all Tunisian and Libyan banks and shops, without any reservation. If you are buying or exchanging any Libyan money in Tunisia before you enter Libya, please check their authenticity. It is highly recommended to buy your Libyan currency inside Libya; your tour guide will be very happy to help.

 

 

Ten Libyan Dinars Note:

The Libyan ten dinars note, showing the leader of the resistance the martyr Omar Almokhtar.

Credit Cards & ATM Machines in Libya:

Credit cards are not widely accepted (please see our Travel Guide for details). ATM cash machines are found mainly in Tripoli and Benghazi, including Tripoli Airport, and in some other cities like Cyrene, Sert, Musratha and Zuwarah. Whether they have cash in them at all times or not is a different matter.

Please note that the limit on the daily amount you can withdraw from any ATM machine in Libya is set by your own bank and often varies from 400 Libyan Dinars to 1000 Libyan Dinars, depending on type of card (with Gold being the higher limit).

 

The following list shows the locations of Wahda's ATM machines as published by the Wahda Bank (wahdabank.org).

Location of ATMs in Tripoli according to www.visa.co.uk.

You can use the following tool in their website to search for the location of ATM machines in any country in the world.

Also you can use Mastercard ATM Locator Tool at:

http://www.mastercard.com/global/atmlocations/

Twenty Libyan Dinars Note:

Twenty Libyan dinars.

A note of twenty dinars, showing the man-made river.

Cashing Travellers Cheques in Libya:

Travellers cheques: very few banks in Libya accept travellers cheques. If you do find one that accepts them, make sure you produce the document issued to you by your bank when you bought the travellers cheques. This document should have your name and the serial numbers of all the travellers cheques in the book. Without this document you will not be able to cash the cheques in Libyan banks.

 

 

Fifty Libyan Dinars Note:

A note of fifty dinars showing Gaddafi.

This is the first issue of the fifty dinars note, as indicated by its number. This image comes from the Libyan Central Bank's website at: http://cbl.gov.ly/pdf/0epx4sNPp2x51FMFhSj.pdf

Libyan Coins:

Libyan coins showing half dinar (top left), quarter dinar (top right), 100 dirham (bottom left), and 50 dirham (bottom right). The coins below show the reverse side of the coins, while the above ones show the obverse.

However, if you still need any of the smaller coins, like 1 pence and 2 pence coins, then you can obtain them from the bank. Al Wahda Bank has the following notice in its website, informing visitors about the availability of these smaller coins.

Image was made from a pdf file from www.wahdabank.org