Iraq's 2003 currency reform — administered under Coalition Provisional Authority oversight — replaced the Saddam-era dinar at a fixed rate, with new coins entering circulation in 2004 as the country's first post-invasion coinage. The copper-plated steel composition was a deliberate cost-containment choice for a monetary system being rebuilt almost entirely from scratch under acute fiscal pressure.
Iraq's 2003 currency reform — administered under Coalition Provisional Authority oversight — replaced the Saddam-era dinar at a fixed rate, with new coins entering circulation in 2004 as the country's first post-invasion coinage. The copper-plated steel composition was a deliberate cost-containment choice for a monetary system being rebuilt almost entirely from scratch under acute fiscal pressure.