Iraq's 2003 banknote series was the centerpiece of one of the most logistically complex currency replacements in modern history. Following the 2003 invasion, the Coalition Provisional Authority oversaw the complete withdrawal of both the old "Saddam dinar" — which had carried the former president's portrait — and the so-called "Swiss dinar," a pre-Gulf War printing that had continued circulating in the Kurdish north at wildly divergent exchange rates. The new issue had to serve a country where two parallel currencies had coexisted for over a decade.
De La Rue printed the new series under significant time pressure; the entire changeover window for the public was just three months, ending January 2004.
Iraq's 2003 banknote series was the centerpiece of one of the most logistically complex currency replacements in modern history. Following the 2003 invasion, the Coalition Provisional Authority oversaw the complete withdrawal of both the old "Saddam dinar" — which had carried the former president's portrait — and the so-called "Swiss dinar," a pre-Gulf War printing that had continued circulating in the Kurdish north at wildly divergent exchange rates. The new issue had to serve a country where two parallel currencies had coexisted for over a decade.
De La Rue printed the new series under significant time pressure; the entire changeover window for the public was just three months, ending January 2004.