1/2 Dinar

The Bahrain Monetary Agency's second series, of which this is the lowest denomination, was introduced progressively from 1993 onward as a full replacement for the first dinar notes issued after Bahrain's independence from British protection in 1971. The half-dinar slot was a practical necessity in a country where the dinar was pegged at a high fixed rate against the US dollar — a rate Bahrain has maintained without adjustment since 1980, making fractional denominations genuinely useful in everyday transactions rather than nominal.

Thomas De La Rue produced the entire series. The 1/2 dinar carries only a watermark as its primary security feature, a relatively modest specification by the standards of the late 1990s.