Bank to issue new polymer money to battle counterfeiters

VietnamStyle

18.08.04

Polymer notes will gradually replace the VND100,000 paper notes as part of efforts to foil counterfeiters, the central bank has announced.

The State Bank of Vietnam governor Le Duc Thuy said the new notes would hit the market on September 1 though existing VND100,000 notes - the denomination most faked - would also continue to be used.

Thuy, speaking at a press briefing in Hanoi yesterday, assured that the issuance of the new notes would not cause inflationary pressure since they would only be issued gradually to replace old ones.

"The new VND100,000 plastic notes will be issued on demand. Since we will only roll them out as replacement for paper notes, it will be very difficult to estimate the exact volume to be issued," he said.

The central bank has decided to stop printing the cotton paper-based notes and expects them to be completely replaced by the polymer banknotes within one year, he said.

The new notes will contain 16 special security features, including one for people with visual disability, he added.

Earlier, two types of polymer-based banknotes with the face values of VND50,000 and VND500,000 were put into circulation on Dec. 7 of 2003.

Preliminary figures show that eight months after their launch, these account for about 40% of all VND50,000 notes in circulation.