Maldivian Rufiyaa Symbol Added to Unicode Standard

The official symbol for the Maldivian Rufiyaa has been formally incorporated into Unicode 18.0, giving the national currency symbol a dedicated standardised code point for use across digital platforms.

The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) said the symbol has been assigned U+20C2, under the name “RUFIYAA SIGN.” Unicode 18.0 was released on September 16, 2026, and includes the Rufiyaa symbol among three new currency symbols.

The inclusion means the Rufiyaa symbol can be represented as a standard Unicode character, supporting its implementation in websites, mobile applications, financial software and other digital systems. The Unicode Consortium noted that the new currency symbols were previously authorised for public use but lacked standardised encoding.

The Rufiyaa symbol was introduced by the MMA on July 3, 2022, following a nationwide competition to design an official symbol for the Maldivian currency. The design is based on the Thaana letter “Ra”, the first letter used in the Dhivehi spelling of Rufiyaa, with an additional horizontal stroke representing the equal sign found in several currency symbols.

The symbol was subsequently incorporated into Maldivian currency, with the reprinted MVR 50 banknote issued in December 2022 becoming the first banknote to carry the new symbol.

The MMA submitted its formal proposal to Unicode in May 2025, describing a dedicated Unicode character as important for accurate digital representation of the Rufiyaa, standardised display across devices and platforms, and implementation in financial systems.

The Unicode Technical Committee subsequently approved the proposed code point for inclusion in Unicode 18.0.

With the release of Unicode 18.0, the Maldivian Rufiyaa now has a place within the international character-encoding standard used by modern digital systems. The MMA expressed gratitude to those who contributed to efforts to secure the symbol’s inclusion.