Saudi riyal Saudi riyal The Saudi riyal ( ""); is the currency of Saudi Arabia. It is abbreviated as The riyal has been the currency of Saudi Arabia since the country came into being and was the currency of Hejaz before Saudi Arabia was created, one of the primary currencies in the Mediterranean region during the Ottoman era. The Hejaz riyal was based on but not equivalent to the Ottoman 20 kuruş coin and was consequently divided into 20 qirsh. However, although the Hejaz riyal was the same weight as the Ottoman 20 kuruş, it was minted in .917 fineness, compared to
Qirsh gold "lira" was introduced, worth 100 qirsh. In Greek, it was known as , ; plural . As the Ottoman Empire broke up, several successor states retained the qirsh as a denomination. These included Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey itself. Others, including Jordan and Sudan, adopted the qirsh as a denomination when they established their own currencies. The name of the Groschen (, , , , , , ), a coin used in various German-speaking states as well as some non-German-speaking countries of Central Europe (Bohemia, Poland, the Romanian principalities), is derived from the same origin of the