RSD (Serbian Dinar)

RSD (Serbian Dinar) is the national currency for the Republic of Serbia. The Serbian dinar is divided into 100 paras, and is referred to with the symbol RSD or unofficially as the din. Also known as the post-Yugoslavia dinar, all of Serbia, except for Kosovo uses this currency. 

Serbia does not participate in the Euro.

The Serbian Dinar (RSD) has a long and complicated history along with the region that would one day become the Republic of Serbia. The country sits at the crossroads of Europe in the central Balkans, which has long been a route for conquering forces and a key to controlling the territory. Serbia, as a country, has changed control repeatedly, and the history of the dinar follows the history of Serbia. The Republic of Serbia realized full independence in 2006.

Serbia has a market economy dominated by the service industry. The economy was strong until the financial crisis of the 2000s. However, exports have seen steady growth in the mid-2000s. The region has coal, oil, and natural gas reserves. According to 2017 World Bank data, the Republic of Serbia has an upper-middle income economy. The country experiences a 1.9% annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth with a yearly inflation deflator of 2.8-percent.

The first references to the dinar as the Serbian unit of currency are from 1214. Serbian rulers in the medieval period minted silver dinars, and there were many different varieties of not only the dinars but of all money in use. When the Ottomans conquered Serbia, various forms of Turkish currency came into use, including the para. The current subdivision of the dinar gets its name from this coin. 

Serbia first attempt at independence came in 1817, but the status did not last long. Also in 1817, the region saw the introduction of non-Turkish foreign currency. All of the various money types saw simultaneous use. The Serbian government-established exchange rates for these different currencies using the groat as the standard money of account. The term "groat" applies to any of the varied types of medieval European coins circulating between 1351 and 1662.

In 1867, the Ottomans left Serbia for good, and the Serbian government ordered a Serbian national currency, the dinar, to be minted. The issuance of dinar coins and banknotes happened over the following nine years. The dinar pegged to the French franc (F) at par between 1873 and 1894. Serbia also participated in the Latin Monetary Union, which was an attempt to unify European currency between 1865 and 1927. By 1920, the Yugoslavian dinar replaced the Serbian dinar at par.

During World War II, Germany occupied Yugoslavia. A new Serbian dinar substituted for the Yugoslavian dinar in 1941, with pegging to the German Reichsmark at the rate of 250 dinars to 1 reichsmark. With the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1944, the Yugoslavian dinar returned to replace the Serbian dinar at the rate of 1 Yugoslavian dinar to 20 Serbian dinars.

After the end of World War I, the territory which includes present-day Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Macedonia became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 2001, Currently, Yugoslavia is split into Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia and Montenegro became independent. In 2003 the Yugoslavia dinar was replaced by the Serbian dinar in all but Montenegro. Also, Kosovo does not use the dinar. Serbia and Montenegro have always operated under different economic policies and currencies. Montenegro participated in the Deutsche Mark (D-Mark), and later the Euro (EUR), while Serbia replaced the Yugoslavian dinar with the Serbian dinar in 2003. 

Kosovo is a disputed territory, which declared itself independent from Serbia in 2008 and uses the Euro as its unit of currency. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence at this time.