Morocco's first bimetallic circulation coin, introduced in 1987, arrived well ahead of most Western mints experimenting with the format — the Royal Canadian Mint's bimetallic loonie followed that same year, and the Bank of Italy's bimetallic 500 lire, often cited as the pioneer, had only been in circulation since 1982. Bank Al-Maghrib adopted the technology primarily as an anti-counterfeiting measure against the proliferation of fake 5-dirham pieces that had become a genuine problem in Moroccan urban markets through the mid-1980s.
Morocco's first bimetallic circulation coin, introduced in 1987, arrived well ahead of most Western mints experimenting with the format — the Royal Canadian Mint's bimetallic loonie followed that same year, and the Bank of Italy's bimetallic 500 lire, often cited as the pioneer, had only been in circulation since 1982. Bank Al-Maghrib adopted the technology primarily as an anti-counterfeiting measure against the proliferation of fake 5-dirham pieces that had become a genuine problem in Moroccan urban markets through the mid-1980s.