5 Things You Must Know About Mauritius Currency

Introduction

In case you’re planning to visit the beautiful coastal island of Mauritius, you must get familiar with the Mauritius currency, climate, tourist attractions, culture, natives, transportation facilities and accommodations. This will help you in enjoying your trip to its maximum.

History

The Mauritian Rupee, or MUR, represented by Rs and recognized as 4217 by ISO, is the official Mauritius currency. It is distributed to the citizens in the form of coins and notes. It was established and adopted by law in the year 1877. The concept for this currency was adapted from massive inflow of Indian currency, (INR) or Indian rupees, with the immigration of Indian citizens to this island country. The Indian rupee, Mauritian Dollar and Sterling were used in Mauritius as currency till 1876. However, they were completely replaced in 1877.

Each Mauritian Rupee is divisible into 100 cents. It is also equal to half of Mauritian dollar and one Indian rupee.

Features

Introduction of Mauritius Currency

In the year 1877, several coins worth 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 cents were circulated in silver and copper. These coin production activities completely stopped in 1899, and the manufacturing of copper coins started afresh in 1911. It was followed by use of silver for minting in 1934.

New Mauritius currency was introduced in 1934 with the introduction of 1 rupee, 50 cents, 25 cents and 10 cents (in a copper-nickel alloy). Later, copper-nickel alloys completely replaced silver coins in 1950. With the increasing demand of money, notes were introduced in 1971 by the Royal Mint. The first set of notes had the picture of Queen Elizabeth II. Later, some reverse designs of notes (10, 200 and 250) were issued in 1988 by Christopher Ironside.

In the year 1987, a fresh series of coins carrying the portrait of the monarch was introduced in 1922. It included copper amalgamated steel coins of 1 and 5 cents, nickel-plated steel coins of 20 cents and copper-nickel amalgamated alloys were used for producing 1 and 5 cents.

By 2007, bi-metallic coins of 20 rupee were issued by the Bank of Mauritius on account of its 40th anniversary. And coins of 2 and 20 cents were finally discarded in 2010.

If you look back at the history of notes, the first notes of 5, 10 and 50 rupees were introduced in 1876. They were revised, and new notes of 25 and 1000 MUR were added to this collection in 1940.

Presently, the Mauritius currency issued by government carried the following portraits: 25 rupees (Sir Moilin Jean Ah-Chuen), 50 rupees (Mr. Joseph Maurice Pataurau), 100 rupees (Mr. Renganaden Seeneevassen), 200 rupees (Sir Abdool Razack Mohamed), 500 rupees (Mr. Sookdeo Bissondoyal), 1000 rupees (Sir Charles Gaetan Duval) and 2000 rupees (Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam).

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