SARB Maintains Denominational Mix

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has recently commented about options for its denominational structure, following ‘fake news’ that it is planning to introduce a new high denomination R500 note and R10 coin.

The highest denomination is the R200 but there is no pressure to introduce a higher value note given that the R100, rather than the R200, is the most used note. The R200 is fulfilling a store of value function. Between March 2020 and June 2021, there were an average of 307.3 million R200’s and 776.6 million R100’s in circulation.

A SARB study has concluded that there is an economic case to issue an R10 coin, but that the public is not keen on the idea. The current highest denomination coin is the R5.