Ouguiya is the currency in the outskirts of the Mauritania country. Next to Malagasy ariary, this currency does offer a non – decimal type of division when it comes to its units. Each ouguiya makes 5 khoums. The ISO standard code of ouguiya is MRO. The introduction of the currency happened in the year 1973, replacing the CFA franc that reigned as the Mauritania currency at that time.
Similarly with the other countries, coins and banknotes were issued to give better representation of such currency. Within its coinage system, the 1/5 or 1 khoum, as well as ouguiya coins in 1, 5, 10, and 20 denominations were brought in the year 1973. The 1 khoum denomination is said to be issued only in that particular year. The most recent issuances of coins happened in the year 2003, giving rise to the 1 ouguiya denomination, and in the year 2004 when other denominations were introduced.
The coins in this type of currency are said to be minted from Kremnica mint found in Slovakia. Later, in the year 2009, the coins were slightly changed. These changes include the reduction of 1 ouguiya in terms of size and composition and the issuance of a bimetallic 20 ouguiya. Just recently, in December 2010, the bimetallic 50 ouguiya was issued and circulated in the country.
The year 1973 saw the issuance and circulation of 100, 200 and 1000 ouguiya denominations that were issued by no other than the Central Bank. This is followed by another series of notes that were issued with the very same denominations at hand. It was not until the year 1979 that the 500 ouguiya was added in the system.
The banknotes of this currency, starting with the second issue, were and are being printed in Munich by the printers Giesecke and Devrient. Mauritania also holds security features within their monetary system, thus the issuance of banknotes in the year 2004 was primarily done to upgrade such features. This newly upgraded currency includes all the early denominations added by the new 2000 note. In 2010, Mauritania issued the circulation of a 5,000 note.
At present it has been seen that most of the coins, especially within the outskirts of the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, are in good to very good condition. On the other hand, the banknotes particularly the 100 and 200 denominations seem to come in poor or fair condition while the other denominations are provided in excellent and exquisite condition.
As reported by many people, the Central Bank is not helping enough to provide new condition notes and coins. Thus, further development is dreamed of in this type of currency. This currency is seen to be in its baby form compared to other currencies and future developments are to be observed closely. Today, one US dollar is equivalent to 286.12 MRO.