Currency Calculator: What can you buy with 1 UAE dirham?

A dirham certainly doesn’t go as far as it used to, but the US dollar-linked currency is still among the stronger ones in the world. 

For AED1, you can still get an ice-cream cone from your popular fast food chain. Or you could take an Abra ride across the creek, from Bur Dubai to Deira (or the other way round) for just a dirham. 

You could still get a half-litre bottled water for AED1, or a packet of locally made chips, candy, or even some stationery. 

Realistically, though, global inflation has eaten into today’s currencies. 

Still, as far as exchange rates go, the dirham remains strong. 

The US dollar and, therefore, the UAE dirham, has been trending stronger against commodity currencies as a Doha deal on an oil output freeze failed to materialise earlier this week.

The dollar has advanced by more than 5.3 per cent over its Russian counterpart in a week, with $1 yesterday fetching RUB68.70 as against RUB65.20 on April 12. Today, 1 UAE dirham will buy you 18.07 Russian rubles.

The Aussie (Australian dollar) saw highs of $1.32 per A$1 and has since declined about 2.3 per cent to $1.28 per A$1. 1 UAE dirham will now buy you 0.35 Australian dollars.

The Canadian dollar too has seen declines but only marginal – from weekly highs of $1.3 vs C$1, the current exchange rate is $1.277 to C$1. 1 UAE dirham will buy you 0.34 Canadian dollars this morning.

The dollar-linked UAE dirham has risen this month against other emerging market currencies too, especially against the Indian and Pakistani rupees.

Here are the current exchange rates for the UAE dirham against major expat currencies:

1 UAE dirham will buy you 18.07 Indian rupees this morning. The INR had strengthened to 17.98 vs AED1 earlier this month, but is now back to Rs18+ levels, much to the Indian expats’ liking.

1 UAE dirham will buy you 28.50 Pakistani rupees as of 8.40am UAE time today, April 19. The PKR briefly strengthened to 28.38 last week, but is back at 28.50 levels.

1 UAE dirham will buy you 39.51 Sri Lankan rupees as of 8.40am today, April 19. The LKR recently made its lifetime low of 40.60 vs AED1 towards the end of March. Even as the South Asian country’s currency has recovered slightly, the trend remains downward.

1 UAE dirham will buy you 12.55 Philippine pesos this morning. The PHP is among the few ‘expat’ currencies that have actually strengthened against the USD this year. The PHP fell to a low below 13 vs AED1 on January 26, but has since recovered.

1 UAE dirham will buy you 21.32 Bangladeshi taka today. The BDT hasn’t seen much movement over the past 12 months, fluctuating between 21.03 and 21.53 vs AED1 since April 2015. It’s currently somewhere midway between that level.

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