Kuwait Banknotes 1 Kuwaiti Dinar Note 1968 Central Bank of Kuwait
Obverse: Portrait of His Highness Sheikh Sir Sabah III bin Salim Al-Sabah, 2nd Emir of Kuwait from 1965 to 1977.
Reverse: An oil refinery.
Size: 144 mm x 70 mm
Kuwait banknotes - Kuwait paper money
Second Issue
Quarter Kuwaiti Dinar Half Kuwaiti Dinar One Kuwaiti Dinar
5 Kuwaiti Dinar 10 Kuwaiti Dinar
The Banknotes of Kuwait - Second Issue
Following the rapid development of Kuwait’s economy it was deemed necessary by the Government of Kuwait to introduce a central bank to supervise the economy and its development. The Central Bank of Kuwait was created under Law No. 32 of 1968 and commenced operations on 1 April 1969, taking over the responsibilities of the Kuwait Currency Board. The notes of the Currency Board continued to circulate for some time, but ultimately a new series of banknotes was released under the authority of the Central Bank. The ¼-, ½- and 10-dinar notes were issued on 17 November 1970, while the 1- and 5-dinar notes were released on 20 April 1971.
The design on the front of each note in the new series is similar to the note it replaced, but the portrait of the new Amir, Sheikh Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah who became head of state in 1965, replaces the portrait of his brother and dominates the note to the right. The text on the front of the notes has changed to reflect the new issuing authority and the law under which authority the notes are issued. The notes are now signed by the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait and the Minister of Finance, with the signatories being Hamza Abbas and Abdul Rahman al-Atiquei. The signatures that appeared on all notes, when they were first issued, were printed in black ink. However, on the ¼- and ½-dinar notes the signatures later became part of the intaglio plate printing. Consequently, there are two varieties of notes for both denominations. The ¼-dinar has black or brown signatures and the ½-dinar has black or purple signatures.
The back of each note is also of a similar design to the notes they replaced, but whereas the first issue had monochrome illustrations, enhanced colour designs have been added to the back of each note in this series. For three of the five notes in this issue the same illustration is used on the back of the notes as for the first issue. However, the cement factory on the back of the 1-dinar note has made way for the illustration of an oil refinery, and the street-level view of limited income houses on the earlier 5-dinar note has made way for an aerial view of a housing estate of limited income houses. The use of the oil refinery in place of the cement products factory on the 1-dinar note shows a measure of development in Kuwait’s economy between the two issues. The 10-dinar note also has a subtle example of progress between the two issues. On the back of the 10-dinar note of the first issue the boum (dhow) has an old Kuwaiti flag flying astern of the vessel. On the new note the modern flag of Kuwait takes its place. The old flag had a scarlet field with a white stripe along the hoist. The word ‘Kuwait’ was written in Arabic in the centre of the flag and the words ‘There is no god but Allah’ was written in white adjacent to the white stripe along the hoist. The new flag was introduced by Amiri Decree No.26 1961 and announced in the Government Gazette of 10 September 1961. It is a horizontal tricolour of green, white and red, with a black trapezoid at the hoist.
A portrait of Sheikh Sabah is used as the watermark to the left of the notes, with the watermark being a mirror image of the portrait that appears on the front of the note. The security thread continues to be a ‘Morse code’ thread, spelling ‘Kuwait’. The serial numbers for the notes of the second issue have a prefix of the letter ‘ب’ (baa) over a number, followed by a six digit number. The second issue was withdrawn from 1 February, 1982, and ceased to be a legal tender on 31 May, 1982.