5 Diram

Tajikistan introduced this series in 2001 following a currency reform that replaced the Soviet-era ruble with the somoni, itself named after Ismoil Somoni, the 9th-century Samanid ruler. The reform had been delayed for years by the catastrophic civil war that consumed the country from 1992 to 1997, leaving the economy so damaged that meaningful monetary stabilization only became possible in the late 1990s. Brass-plated steel was the practical choice for a nation still rebuilding basic infrastructure.