1/2 Dirham - Mohammed VI

Mohammed VI ascended the Moroccan throne in 1999 following the death of his father Hassan II, and the currency series bearing his effigy has been incrementally updated across his reign as the dirham system absorbed repeated reforms to combat counterfeiting. The half-dirham denomination occupies an awkward place in everyday Moroccan commerce — large enough to matter in small transactions, small enough to disappear from circulation into jars and drawers.

Bank Al-Maghrib moved to nickel plated steel for this denomination as part of a broader regional shift away from cupro-nickel, driven largely by fluctuating base metal costs in the mid-2000s.