Saddam-free Iraq cash now official
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An Iraqi bank employee prepares to burn old notes at Iraq's Central Bank.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has made official its new dinar, money without the stark image of captured dictator Saddam Hussein, after a three-month exchange period.
The notes depict scenes of Iraqi history, topography, scientific contributions, and economic life. Like the previous currency, the denominations are written on the currency in Arabic and English.
To protect against counterfeiters, the dinars have raised letters, a watermark, a security thread and a color-changing symbol.
More than 10,000 tons of the old notes with Saddam's portrait are to be destroyed amid a massive logistical effort throughout the country. The Coalition Provisional Authority began working in July with the Central Bank in Iraq to produce the new currency.
Since the Iraqi currency exchange on October 15, the new dinar's value has grown by 25 percent. On the street, the money is exchanging about 1,000 dinars to the dollar.
Ahmed Salman Jaburi, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, said in a statement: "The new dinar is a real improvement on the old.
"It's secure -- its many visible and invisible security features make it very hard to fake -- and because of this it has the Iraqi public's confidence. A secure currency will provide a firm foundation for Iraq's future economic growth."
Other officials praised the complex $200 million exchange program, which involved a public information campaign, bank teller training, and distributing the new notes securely to banks around Iraq in a speedy period.
Bremer said it took Iraq less than a year to do what it took three years for Germany to do after World War II.
"Rebuilding Iraq's ruined economy is a key priority for the coalition -- a new currency to replace the discredited old one was a necessary early move.
"With the new dinar now wholly in place a line has been drawn under Iraq's recent economic past and the focus shifted to its economic future," he said.
The new currency will also replace the "Swiss dinar," used by some residents of Northern Iraq.
-- Correspondent Karl Penhaul contributed to this report
