old notes deadline extended

STAFF WRITER | Wednesday January 13, 2010 00:00

 

The extension was necessitated by the realisation that in some parts of the country, particularly in remote areas, members of the public and businesses still hold significant quantities of old banknotes and are experiencing difficulties in exchanging them.

'The public is, therefore, requested to take advantage of this extension and approach the said institutions to exchange the remaining old banknotes without delay as there shall be no further extension beyond March 31, 2010.

'Furthermore, the bank wishes to remind the public that the exchange of the old banknotes for new ones at the Bank of Botswana in Gaborone and Francistown shall continue until December 31, 2014 as previously announced.

'The public is further advised to continue to maintain vigilance and ensure that only genuine banknotes (old and new) bearing security features and images indicated by the bank are in circulation,' public relations officer Chepete Chepete said  in a statement.

Long queues of people trying to change their old notes characterised the Central Bank offices in Gaborone and Francistown  since the new year as many were caught unaware by the December 31 deadline.

Although the bank had announced the dates for the notes change over, the deadline was not that much publicised leading to many people either missing or forgetting about the deadline.

In Gaborone long queues of people trying to change their notes have been the order of the day, with many blaming the Central Bank for not doing enough   to inform them on the deadline.

Chepete admitted that the bank could have done better to publicise the deadline.' We did put out two press releases last year, but judging by the number of people that are at our offices trying to change their money, maybe we should have done more,' he said.