diff --git a/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-tree-model-account.c b/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-tree-model-account.c
index 5c3160e5acc..e04eac9adc0 100644
--- a/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-tree-model-account.c
+++ b/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-tree-model-account.c
@@ -560,6 +560,7 @@ gnc_tree_model_account_compute_period_balance (GncTreeModelAccount *model,
                                                gboolean *negative)
 {
     GncTreeModelAccountPrivate *priv;
+    GNCPrintAmountInfo print_info;
     time64 t1, t2;
     gnc_numeric b3;
 
@@ -583,7 +584,9 @@ gnc_tree_model_account_compute_period_balance (GncTreeModelAccount *model,
     if (negative)
         *negative = gnc_numeric_negative_p (b3);
 
-    return g_strdup(xaccPrintAmount (b3, gnc_account_print_info (acct, TRUE)));
+    print_info = gnc_account_print_info (acct, TRUE);
+
+    return g_strdup (gnc_print_amount_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (b3, print_info));
 }
 
 static gboolean
diff --git a/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-balances.c b/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-balances.c
index b46b531996c..9227aefb2c4 100644
--- a/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-balances.c
+++ b/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-balances.c
@@ -146,7 +146,8 @@ gnc_ui_account_get_print_balance (xaccGetBalanceInCurrencyFn fn,
     balance = gnc_ui_account_get_balance_full(fn, account, recurse,
               negative, NULL);
     print_info = gnc_account_print_info(account, TRUE);
-    return g_strdup(xaccPrintAmount(balance, print_info));
+
+    return g_strdup (gnc_print_amount_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (balance, print_info));
 }
 
 
@@ -178,7 +179,8 @@ gnc_ui_account_get_print_report_balance (xaccGetBalanceInCurrencyFn fn,
     balance = gnc_ui_account_get_balance_full(fn, account, recurse,
               negative, report_commodity);
     print_info = gnc_commodity_print_info(report_commodity, TRUE);
-    return g_strdup(xaccPrintAmount(balance, print_info));
+
+    return g_strdup (gnc_print_amount_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (balance, print_info));
 }
 
 static gnc_numeric
@@ -312,7 +314,8 @@ gnc_ui_owner_get_print_balance (GncOwner *owner,
 
     balance = gnc_ui_owner_get_balance_full (owner, negative, NULL);
     print_info = gnc_commodity_print_info (gncOwnerGetCurrency (owner), TRUE);
-    return g_strdup (xaccPrintAmount (balance, print_info));
+
+    return g_strdup (gnc_print_amount_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (balance, print_info));
 }
 
 /**
@@ -338,6 +341,7 @@ gnc_ui_owner_get_print_report_balance (GncOwner *owner,
     balance = gnc_ui_owner_get_balance_full (owner, negative,
               report_commodity);
     print_info = gnc_commodity_print_info (report_commodity, TRUE);
-    return g_strdup (xaccPrintAmount (balance, print_info));
+
+    return g_strdup (gnc_print_amount_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (balance, print_info));
 }
 
diff --git a/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.c b/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.c
index 5bcb8eb638c..d391bb3a9e0 100644
--- a/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.c
+++ b/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.c
@@ -1850,11 +1850,13 @@ xaccSPrintAmount (char * bufp, gnc_numeric val, GNCPrintAmountInfo info)
     return (bufp - orig_bufp);
 }
 
+#define BUFLEN 1024
+
 const char *
 xaccPrintAmount (gnc_numeric val, GNCPrintAmountInfo info)
 {
     /* hack alert -- this is not thread safe ... */
-    static char buf[1024];
+    static char buf[BUFLEN];
 
     if (!xaccSPrintAmount (buf, val, info))
         buf[0] = '\0';
@@ -1863,6 +1865,55 @@ xaccPrintAmount (gnc_numeric val, GNCPrintAmountInfo info)
     return buf;
 }
 
+const char *
+gnc_print_amount_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (gnc_numeric val, GNCPrintAmountInfo info)
+{
+    /* hack alert -- this is not thread safe ... */
+    static char buf[BUFLEN];
+    static const char ltr_isolate[] = { 0xe2, 0x81, 0xa6 };
+    static const char ltr_pop_isolate[] = { 0xe2, 0x81, 0xa9 };
+    size_t offset = info.use_symbol ? 3 : 0;
+
+    memset (buf, 0, BUFLEN);
+    if (!xaccSPrintAmount (buf + offset, val, info))
+    {
+        buf[0] = '\0';
+        return buf;
+    };
+
+    if (!info.use_symbol)
+        return buf;
+
+    memcpy (buf, ltr_isolate, 3);
+
+    if (buf[BUFLEN - 4] == '\0')
+    {
+        size_t length = strlen (buf);
+        memcpy (buf + length, ltr_pop_isolate, 3);
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        buf[BUFLEN - 1] = '\0';
+        memcpy (buf + BUFLEN - 4, ltr_pop_isolate, 3);
+
+        PWARN("buffer length %d exceeded, string truncated was %s", BUFLEN, buf);
+    }
+    /* its OK to return buf, since we declared it static
+       and is immediately g_strdup'd */
+    return buf;
+}
+
+gchar *
+gnc_wrap_text_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (const gchar *text)
+{
+    static const char *ltr = "\u2066"; // ltr isolate
+    static const char *pop = "\u2069"; // pop directional formatting
+
+    if (!text)
+        return NULL;
+
+    return g_strconcat (ltr, text, pop, NULL);
+}
 
 /********************************************************************\
  ********************************************************************/
diff --git a/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.h b/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.h
index b9bb385c60b..4e8867d1039 100644
--- a/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.h
+++ b/libgnucash/app-utils/gnc-ui-util.h
@@ -401,6 +401,28 @@ xaccParseAmountExtended (const char * in_str, gboolean monetary,
                          gunichar group_separator, const char *ignore_list,
                          gnc_numeric *result, char **endstr);
 
+/**
+ * Make a string representation of a gnc_numeric.  Warning, the
+ * gnc_numeric is not checked for validity and the returned char* may
+ * point to random garbage.
+ *
+ * This is the same as xaccPrintAmount but wraps the output with BiDi
+ * left to right isolate if a symbol is displayed.
+ */
+const char *
+gnc_print_amount_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (gnc_numeric val, GNCPrintAmountInfo info);
+
+/**
+ * This function helps with GTK's use of 'Unicode Bidirectional
+ * Text Algorithm'. To keep the format of the text, this function wraps
+ * the text with a BiDi isolate charatcter and a BiDi closing character.
+ *
+ * This helps with monetary values in RTL languages that display the
+ * currency symbol.
+ */
+gchar *
+gnc_wrap_text_with_bidi_ltr_isolate (const char *text);
+
 /* Initialization ***************************************************/
 
 void gnc_ui_util_init (void);
@@ -446,9 +468,9 @@ gchar * gnc_filter_text_for_currency_symbol (const gchar *incoming_text,
                                              const gchar *symbol);
 
 /** Returns the incoming text removed of currency symbol
- * 
+ *
  * @param comm commodity of entry if known
- * 
+ *
  * @param incoming_text The text to filter
  *
  * @param symbol return the symbol used