The Central Bank of Tanzania has issued a statement on the quality of its banknotes and coins. All in all the quality has improved a lot but the cost benefit analysis of the 500-shilling note has lead to the conclusion that the banknote will be replaced by a coin.
We've been hearing quite a lot of these types of reports lately from several countries replacing low denominations or banknotes which have become worthless due to inflation with coins.
The Bank of Egypt began on Monday printing 500 milion worth of new 1-pound banknotes to face the shortage of small change in the Egyptian market for the past few months, Albawaba Business reports. The newly printed banknotes will be signed by Governor Tarek Amer of the Bank of Egypt for the first time since he took office in November 2015.
The paper banknotes of 1-pound were replaced with a coin in 2008. The old 1-pound banknotes, which were printed earlier and signed by the former governors of the Central Bank of Egypt, have already been put back into use in the market for the last month.
The Standard reports that the Bank of China Hong Kong will celebrate it's 100th year in Hong Kong. And to commemorate this occassion the BoC will issue a special commemorative banknote. The new banknote will "feature Hong Kong elements" and will be issued in September 2016.
No word on the details of the design yet.
The Narodowi Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) has unveiled its new 500-zlotych banknote with the image of King Jan III Sobieksi (1629-1696) on it. This is the latest addition to the 'monarchs' series and is designed by Andrzej Heidrich who also designed the other denominations in this series. This banknote will be the highest denomination in Poland.
The new banknote will be issued in February 2017.
Nigeria unfortunately has a history of rebel uprisings. What's interesting is that several of these rebel groups have issued their own currency and banknotes. Between 1968 and 1970 there was the Republic of Biafra that left some banknotes to history which weren't recognized outside of Biafra but are still quite popular amongst collectors.
Now it seems we can expect two new banknotes from no less than two breakaway states. On the one hand there are the Niger Delta militants and there is also the Middle Belt. The Niger Delta militants unveiled their banknote a few days ago:
After that move the Middle Belt also presented a banknote with the head of Major Gideon Gwaza Orkar on the front. He was the man behind a violent coup against the government of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1990. The coup was crushed and the Major was executed.
Now doesn't that banknote look sort of familiar...?
According to ArabNews.com the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency has announced that the 1-riyal banknote won't be printed again and will be replaced with a 2-riyal coin.
"The report said SR1 and SR2 coins will be ideal for buying soft drinks and other small items and services, including parking meters. Additionally, the aim is to ensure 80 percent of the public use electronic means to buy goods. Currently 84 percent prefer cash."
As announced earlier the Bank of England has today revealed what the new 5-pound banknote will look like. The new note which will be issued from 13 September 2016 features Sir Winston Churchill on the back. For more information on him, please see my previous post written when his name was revealed.
The 5-pound note will be the first polymer banknote issued by the Bank of England. In 2017 it will be followed by a new 10-pound note featuring the image of writer Jane Austen. In 2020 the 20-pound note featuring J.M.W. Turner will be the third polymer banknote in England.
The new note shows the following features:
I don't know about you but I think this new note looks very nice.
The Bank of Thailand has announced that a new commemorative note is coming our way. I love the commemorative banknotes of Thailand very much (as can be seen in my personal collection) so I'm definitely looking forward to this one!
This 70-baht banknote is in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the accession to the throne by King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 9 June 2016, which is also the issue date. It measures 89 x 162 mm and a total of 20 million banknotes will be issued.
From the press release: "The front of the banknote depicts the portrait of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the uniform of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the Royal House of Chakri gown with the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri, and the Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao breast chain.
The portrait of H.M. the King in full regalia holding the Sword of Victory, standing in front of the Phuttan Kanchanasinghat Throne inside the Paisan Taksin Hall is illustrated on the reverse of the banknote."
The note will also be issued with a folder like all recent commemorative banknotes.
The Bank of Korea has announced that in commemoration of the Winter Olympics 2018 which will be held in Pyeongchang a special banknote will be issued. South Korea follows in the footsteps of China and Russia who also issued special commemorative banknotes celebrating their Olympic games of 2008 and 2014.
"The bank added it will adopt more complex anti-counterfeit measures for the banknote as it will be legal tender. The commemorative banknote will also be designed to target overseas buyers, sources added."
A trip to my local coins and papermoney dealer resulted in a few nice new notes. Some of these were sold at a far lower price than the SWPMC indicated so all in all a good visit!
Somalia, the war-torn failed state in the Horn of Africa, is still planning to issue its own banknotes once more. The have expressed this wish already in 2013 and 2014 but now it might actually happen. The new notes would curculate alongside the US dollar which is now being used as the main currency in Somalia.
"The International Monetary Fund is helping Somalia print and circulate the currency, Bashir Issa Ali, governor of Somalia's central bank, said Friday in an interview in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Somali shillings currently in circulation aren't printed by the federal government in Mogadishu and most are fake, Ali said. The new banknotes would be produced by "reputable companies," he said."
The new notes are predicted for early 2017.
A few days ago we heard the sad news that Dutch mountaineer Eric Arnold had died while climbing the Mount Everest. He was only 35 years old. The day before he had been finally successful (after 4 failed attempts in previous years) in reaching the summit. During the descent from the top it is believed he died from altitude sickness. Two other people have died from the same climbing group.
Mountains and the people who try to climb them have always sparked people's imagination and admiration. So it's no surprise we can find several of them on banknotes from different countries. The highest of them all, the Mount Everest (although that is up for debate), is on the banknotes of at least three two different countries: Nepal and China and New Zealand.
The last note from New Zealand is of course the Banknote of the Year 2015. It is also one of two notes I could find with an actual climber on it, in this case the famous Sir Edmund Hillary who was the first to climb to the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Update: you know that feeling when you've always assumed something to be obvious just to find out it's not true? Well... I always assumed the mountain on the 5-dollar note from New Zealand to be Mount Everest since it has Sir Edmund Hillary on it but as Wez correctly pointed out in the comments it's Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand.
The other note I could find with mountaineers on it, is the 500-intis note from Peru.
One other mountaineer deserves to be included in this story and that is Sean Prockter from Jasper, Canada. He made the news last year when he was the first person to climb all 7 peaks shown on the Canadian 10-dollar banknote in one season.
The Reserve Bank of India has indicated that a new set of banknotes will be issued in the future. The new currency notes might get a new look.
No word yet on the design or issue date. Perhaps this will also be the opportunity to finally introduce the polymer notes in India? Last I heard about them was that the trial in five cities was cancelled because of 'technical problems'.
The Guardian reports that a rival Central Bank in Libya might issue competing banknotes. This will certainly help to solve the already chaotic situation in Libya...
"A political battle between the UN-recognised Tripoli government led by Fayez Sarraj and the Tobruk-based parliament loyal to General Khalifa Haftar in the east has led to parallel splits in the country’s financial institutions, with two central banks threatening to circulate rival Libyan dinar banknotes in the country.
De La Rue, the Basingstoke-based currency printer and a long-term supplier of notes to the Libyan government in Tripoli, sent 70m dinars, worth about $50m, to the country last month and is in the process of delivering a further 1bn dinars before and during Ramadan.
A rival bank governor in the east, Ali Salim al-Hibri, once recognised as the bank governor by the IMF, claims to have printed 4bn dinars worth of banknotes with the help of the Russian state.
The two currencies would have different serial numbers, security details and watermarks, diplomats say. The danger is two central banks flooding the country with conflicting currencies that are not interchangeable in banks. They are also likely to worsen inflation. Food inflation has reached 14% a year."
Update 29 May 2016: I deleted the previous posted images. The images below are the notes issued by the rival central bank. The are slightly different from the already issued new notes: the new notes have different security features, watermarks, and serial numbers and are printed in Russia. The two central banks have apparently agreed to supervise the issue of new notes. The new notes are expected to be issued from 1 June 2016.
Update 11 July 2016: The "Russian" 50-dinars notes used in the west can be distinguished from the "British" ones used in the east because they have uniform serial numbers instead of ascending and lack the seal at the left top of the front.
British:
Russian:
Good news if you happen to be a criminal in search for ways to transport your dirty money in a convenient way. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has announced that it will not follow the example of the European Central Bank when they announced the end of their highest denomination. The 500-euro note might be coming to an end but the Swiss 1,000-franc note will be available to us all. In a matter of speaking for most of us...
"The cabinet argued that the Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) had also not received any information on the illegal use of high-value banknotes."
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