Improved notes released soon

The Bank of Namibia this week announced that it will soon put into circulation the new and improved  10 and 20 Namibia Dollar notes after it was discovered that previous notes were printed on a weaker type of paper which caused it to age faster.
Speaking at a press conference, the Governor of the Bank of Namibia, Ipumbu Shiimi, said that after the central bank issued the new series of bank notes in May last year, it was noticed that the 10 and 20 Dollar notes were showing signs of faster wear and tear.
“We, together with currency experts went out to try and get to the bottom of the problem. After investigations, it was found that there was a weakness in the paper that was used to produce the 10 and 20 Dollar notes and not the other notes,” he said.
He said, because the problem is so unique, it could not be picked up during the normal testing of standard earlier. The notes go through a very intense process of checking the quality of the paper as well as the printing thus the problem was not picked up.
“It required a test that was usually not conducted to be used to identify what the problem was and this kind of test is only done in extreme circumstances. We decided to reprint now apart from going through the normal standard tests. We had to go over and above the standards to put the new paper as well as the printed notes through to ensure that the problem we have picked up before will not be repeated,” he added.
He further said that the bank has decided to shift the diamond feature slightly to the right out of the folding line as a precautionary measure because the feature is slightly harder than the paper and it tends to age faster because people usually fold their money when they get it.
“With money, the most alternate and effective test is to put the money into circulation, to put in out there for people to use it , therefore what we have done is to print a limited edition and put it in circulation, we will see how that quantity will perform and after three months,” he said.