Bingo facts about Iranian rial

Stressed by economic sanctions imposed by the US & Europe and shepherded to the brink by a jingoistic leadership, Iran’s currency, the Rial, is on a tailspin. The world is not losing sleep over it, but it might soon if one of the biggest oil & gas producers implodes. So catch up on your Rial facts, here are a few we discovered ...

Firstly, it’s very, very old. The Rial was introduced in 1798.

Hope forex punters don’t mix up the Indian Rupee (Trading Code: INR) with the Iranian Rial (Trading Code: IRR)

Hope Americans don’t confuse Oman — whose currency is also Rial — with Iran.

Any guess who smiles at you from many high value Rial notes? Don’t know? Hope you are not an Iranian, because the answer is Ayatollah Khomeini.

Now guess, what image does a 50,000 Rial note carry? The Ayatollah? Wrong. The right answer: a nuke symbol on the map of Iran.

What will a 100,000-Rial note be worth in India now ? Roughly a day’s NREGA wage (Rs 138) in Bengal.

So how much cash should you carry around in Tehran to be known as a dollar millionaire? Just around 12 billion Rials!

There are a lot of Rials going around Iran. Some printed by the government & others printed by Uncle Sam (CIA) who is pushing a lot of fake notes, says the Iranian government.