KARACHI: Governor State Bank has said that all currency notes are going to be replaced by the end of this year.
The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance was chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwala, in which while giving a briefing, State Bank Governor Jameel Ahmed said that the State Bank is going to change all notes. The demonetisation process will be completed by the end of this year.
He said that we do not have clarity about plastic currency. What we call plastic currency they mean debit card etc. We are preparing to introduce new polymer currency notes. In the first step, a note is suggested to be made on polymer paper. It will be prepared and sent to the cabinet, if the cabinet approves, then we will release it.
He said that many advanced features have come to prevent fake notes. Will complete the process of introducing new notes by the end of this year. Cabinet approval will be sought to introduce new plastic notes. It will be seen what is its age, what is the cost per note and how durable and long lasting are the security features.
The governor of State Bank said that we have to do the test, that’s why initially we want to introduce a note in plastic currency. If these notes are durable and its security features are long-term, we will introduce them, otherwise it may not be viable.
Committee member Mohsin Aziz suggested that the 5 thousand rupees note is causing corruption and other problems. It should end, this issue was raised in the Parliament as well. Governor State Bank said that no proposal to demonetise Rs 5,000 notes is under consideration. There have been proposals in this regard before but this proposal was not accepted. That is why the new design notes that we are going to bring now also include a note of 5 thousand rupees.
Mohsin Aziz said that if you stop the note of 5 thousand rupees, I can assure you that this note will be sold for 3 thousand rupees in the market. Governor State Bank said that it is the job of law enforcement agencies to stop its misuse.
