50 Diram

Tajikistan's diram denominations were introduced in 2000 when the somoni replaced the Russian ruble, itself a currency the country had clung to for years after independence simply because issuing a national coinage requires infrastructure Dushanbe didn't yet have. The brass-plated steel construction reflects ongoing cost pressures in one of Central Asia's poorest economies, where even the economics of coinage metal are a practical constraint rather than a design choice.