When the AED was introduced in 1973, it replaced the Qatar and Dubai riyal at par. Initially, the Dirham was pegged to the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR). Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the AED's value fluctuated modestly against major currencies. In 1997, the UAE officially pegged the Dirham to the US Dollar at the rate of 3.6725 AED = 1 USD — a rate that has remained unchanged since. This nearly three-decade track record of peg stability is remarkable among global currencies and is a testament to the UAE's fiscal discipline and reserve management.