Get Glimpse of Egypt's New Polymer Banknote

SeeNews publishes the initial  images of the 10 and 20-pound plastic banknotes, which are expected to be on the market by November.

The Central Bank of Egypt intends to issue plastic money “Polymer banknotes” to replace the older versions in a couple of month. The new banknotes will be printed in the New Administrative Capital’s printing facilities.

The newer version is waterproof, hard to set on fire, and difficult to rip up.

In order to reduce the cost of production of printing, CBE will start with the category of EGP 10 and EGP 20 to maintain the quality, cleanliness of money and extend its duration usage.

A report by the Central Bank revealed that the volume of coins traded in the Egyptian market rose to EGP 445 million by the end of May 2018, compared to EGP 437 million a month earlier, an increase of about EGP 8 million.

Although the cost of issuing paper currency is much lower than coins, the latter life duration is between 15 and 30 years, depending on the materials assembled in the manufacturing process, which can vary between copper, nickel, aluminum, steel, and zinc.

Polymer banknotes were first issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in 1988. Other countries also switched to polymer banknotes including Canada, New Zealand, Romania, Vietnam, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Chile, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Armenia.