BSP Ups Orders for Polymer Notes

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will be circulating an additional 1 billion P1,000 polymer banknotes in 2024, double the amount previously ordered in 2021 for the circulation trial of the polymer versus the paper version.

According to BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E Tangonan, as BSP currently doesn’t have the capacity to produce the banknotes at its Quezon City printworks, they are continuing to be outsourced to Note Printing Australia, which is both ‘more manageable and less expensive’.

The BSP paid P3.7 billion (US$65.8 million) to produce, supply and deliver 500 million P1,000 polymer banknotes from 2021 to 2023.

The pilot of the polymer notes began with an initial release of 10 million notes in 2021. The BSP has developed a polymer evaluation framework to assess if its reported benefits are true. This framework covers carbon footprint analysis (lifecycle analysis), microbial contamination analysis, perception surveys and sentiment analysis, and banknote lifespan analysis.