Egypt mint considers a switch to plastic
 

By Ahmed Fekry

Middle East Times

2001

An Australian delegation of banknote manufacturers recently entered into negotiations with the Egyptian authorities to replace Egypt's notorious paper banknotes with crisp plastic polymer currency.

The banknotes currently used in Egypt are printed on paper made of cotton. They quickly get soiled and tatty, and are quite costly to produce. The Australians met with a number of Egyptian officials, including the assistant governor of the Central Bank, Hussein Badawi, the Chairman of the Banknote Printing House, Muhammad Abu Bakr, and officials in the Ministry of Interior's Anti-counterfeiting Authority.

A study prepared by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand stated that printing on plastic or polymer reduces the cost of printing by half, compared to paper notes. The payback period is one year, the study added.

In addition, polymer notes last five times as long as paper notes. They are cleaner and therefore do not pose the same health hazards that paper notes do.

Health experts have pointed out that the circulation of old banknotes can lead to the spread of diseases, as paper notes become dirty after roughly four months. In addition, polymer banknotes are more environmentally friendly. Paper notes have to be burnt after a while, while polymer banknotes are recyclable.

However, the most important advantage of plastic banknotes is that they are extremely difficult to counterfeit.

To allay fears that the new technology might force financial institutions to replace currency machines such as ATMs, the Australians made it clear that the same machines used in handling paper notes are used for polymer banknotes.

The Central Bank of Egypt would only need a few machines to print polymer notes.

This Australian technology has been used since 1988 and its success has encouraged several other countries to adopt the same system. Seventeen countries are now using polymer banknotes, including China, Brazil, Indonesia, Kuwait, Romania, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei.

"We have launched a promotional campaign of seminars and events in Egypt with the theme: 'Think Australia.'

Each forum provides an opportunity for participants, particularly from the private sector, to discuss how we might better use Australian and Egyptian skills and resources for our mutual benefits," said Australia's ambassador to Cairo, Victoria Owen.