Catalog
| Issuer | Central Bank of Libya |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | مصرف ليبيا المركزي هذه الأوراق النقدية قانونية للمدفوعات كافة نصف دينار صدرت بموجب القانون عن مصرف ليبيا المركزي المحافظ |
| Reverse description | Central vignette of a pivot irrigation system in operation across cultivated fields, with a sheaf of wheat in the foreground at right, rendered in intaglio in purple and blue tones on a multicolour guilloche underprint. The institution name 'Central Bank of Libya' appears in large letterpress at top centre, above the state title 'Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya'. The denomination appears in both numeral and word form, with '1/2' in an ornamental cartouche at upper right and lower left, and 'One Half Dinar' in English at lower right. |
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| Comments |
Libya's ½ Dinar denomination has a practical explanation: the dinar was subdivided into 1,000 dirhams, making fractional notes genuinely useful at retail level rather than ornamental. The 1990 series was issued under the authority of the Central Bank during a period when international sanctions were tightening around the Qadhafi government, yet De La Rue in London continued to hold the printing contract — a commercial relationship that outlasted considerable diplomatic friction.
The watermark security on this series is relatively minimal by De La Rue's own standards of the period, reflecting the low face value and correspondingly lower counterfeiting incentive.