What is the currency of Armenia?

The dram is the monetary unit of Armenia. It is subdivided into 100 luma. The word "dram" translates into English as "money" and is cognate with the Greek drachma and the Arabic dirham. The first instance of a dram currency was in the period from 1199 to 1375, when silver coins called dram were issued. On 21 September 1991 a national referendum proclaimed Armenia as an independent republic from the Soviet Union. The Central Bank of Armenia, established on 27 March 1993, was given the exclusive right of issuing the national currency.

The Armenian dram is also used in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. A separate currency, the Nagorno-Karabakh dram, which circulates together with the Armenian dram was introduced during 2005. Coins and banknotes ranging in nominal values from 50 luma to 10 dram were issued. Officially the Nagorno-Karabakh dram is legal tender in both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In practice it is however mostly sold as souvenirs due to the low nominal values of the coins and notes issued.