The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) on Thursday commenced the distribution of new banknotes which were introduced last Tuesday in a bid to collect currency notes circulating informally and outside financial institutions.
The NBE Governor Yinager Dessie and President of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) Abie Sano launched the distribution at Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa,
In a dramatic move, the government of Ethiopia last Tuesday introduced the first 200 Birr note and replaced Birr 10, 50, and 100 notes with new ones.
While launching the new currency notes, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the introduction of the new banknotes was aimed at fighting corruption, counterfeiting, and money laundering.
The new banknotes have unique security features and designs and the new 200, 100, 50, and 10 banknotes feature peace, history, economy, and unity respectively.
The existing birr 5 note will remain unchanged for some time until it is replaced by a coin in the near future.
The government has already spent 3.6 billion birr to change the existing currency notes.
“A larger portion of the new birr notes were imported from abroad,” Abiy said.
MG/GIK/APA