In Other News…

• The Central Bank of Tunisia has issued two new banknotes – the 5 and 50 dinars – which will co-circulate with the existing versions. The 50 dinar features the former Prime Minister, Hédi Nouira, and the 5 dinar a portrait of the engineer, agronomist and activist Slaheddine Amami.

The design of the current 5 dinar dates back to 2013, and the 50 dinar to 2011. The new versions have a more modern style, in keeping with the 20 dinar issued in 2017 and the 10 dinar in 2020. Those notes feature a RAPID® secure thread, whilst the new notes feature the RAPID HD version. Both new notes also feature SPARK® Live.

• The Central Bank of the UAE has continued the roll-out of its new series with the issue of new 5 and 10 dirham banknotes. In common with the new 50 dirham issued last December, the two new notes are printed on De La Rue’s SAFEGUARD® polymer by Abu Dhabi-based printer Oumolat.

According to the Bank, the notes highlight its adoption of sustainable practices and efforts to develop enhanced environmental standards in the financial sector, and to promote sustainable growth by using environmentally-friendly and recyclable polymer material.

• The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has announced that it will shortly issue a new Z$100 note. The Bank’s logo (three balancing rocks) will feature on the front (as with the other notes in the series), along with a colour shift thread. The Great Zimbabwe Monument and a baobab tree will feature on the reverse.

The new Z$2 and Z$5 notes issued in late 2019 have already been ‘decommissioned’ due to continuing inflation, leaving the Z$10, $20 and $50 notes in circulation, to be joined soon by the Z$100.

• The Central Bank of Azerbaijan has announced that a new 20 manat banknote – the fifth in its new series – will go into circulation in June. The theme of the new note is ‘history’. In keeping with the other new notes, the 20 manat is horizontal on the front, and vertically orientated on the reverse.

Security features include a LEAD stripe with multiple optical effects, SPARK Live, watermark, marks for the visually impaired, and RollingStar® security thread.

• Banque du Liban has issued an improved version of the 5,000 livre banknote. The design is the same as the one issued in 2012, but it now features Crane Currency’s RAPID security thread.

• The Bank of Scotland has unveiled the design of its new £100 polymer note, which will go into circulation in June. It features a portrait of the novelist Walter Scott on the front (as do the other notes in the new series), and the medical pioneer and suffragette Dr Flora Murray on the reverse. Among the security features is a distinctive holographic stripe laid over a window to be viewed on either side of the note.

The new note will go into circulation on 9 May, completing the Bank’s five-note series.

• With effect from 1 April, the ISO 4217 code for Sierra Leone’s redenominated monetary unit will be SLE. The redenomination, involving the removal of three zeroes from the leone, was announce last August. Banknotes will be denominated in 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 leones, and coins in 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents.

• The Czech National Bank (CNB) has issued a commemorative CZK 100 banknote – one of a series of three marking the centenary of the establishment of the Czechoslovak currency. The note bears a portrait of one of the most prominent personalities of the First Czechoslovak Republic – Karel Engliš, a former Finance Minister and Governor of the CNB. The note is the second commemorative banknote in the history of the CNB and the first one to feature a hologram.