Malaysia Currency

MYR or Malaysian Ringgit is the financial Malaysia currency code issued by their national bank, Bank Negara Malaysia.

MYR is divided into 100 sen, which is equivalent to centavos.

Its history traces back from June 12, 1967 when the Malaysia Dollar replaced Malaya and British dollar as the main currency of the country. The term ringgit pertained to the jagged edges of the silver Spanish dollars, which was widely available during the Portuguese colonial time. Initially, the Malaysia currency was referred to as dollar and cents, but has adapted the name ringgit and sen during the early 1990s.

Initially, there was an agreement between Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia on the interchangeability of the their currencies. Until May 8, 1973, the Malaysia ringgit was exchangeable with Singapore and Brunei dollar. Malaysia broke off from this agreement since then.

The first collection of the coins in sens or centavos was introduced in 1967. The usual denominations were 1, 4, 10, 20 and 50 sen and were then followed by 1 ringgit coin.

Malaysian national bank, Bank Negara Malaysia issued the Malaysian dollar banknotes in June 1967. The common denominations were 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 dollars, while the 1000-dollar bill was issued in 1968. The Malaysian dollar bills bear the picture of Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the first head of the state of Malaysia.

Automated Teller Machines usually dispense RM50 (or Malaysia Ringgit) with some RM10 notes. There is a color code being followed by the Malaysia Ringgit bills.

RM1 is in blue color, RM2 in lilac (but this has been out of circulation nowadays), RM5 is in green color, RM10 is in red, RM20 in brown, RM20 in or white (also out of circulation), RM50 in blue/grey, RM100 in violet, RM500 in orange (out of circulation), and RM1000 in either blue or green (but has also been out of circulation).

The first series of the Malaysia banknotes appeared in 1967, and had the image of Kijang Emas imprinted at the back, while the front had the image of Tuanku Abdul Rahman. The second series was issued in 1982 and bore more ornamental designs that depicted the culture and traditions of Malaysia. The third series came out in 1996 and is still being currently circulated. The fourth series came out recently in 2008.