By Mickella Anderson-Gordon
KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – The total number of polymer currency notes in circulation, since being launched in June this year, has reached over 70 percent, according to the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ).
Speaking during the Central Bank’s quarterly monetary policy press conference on Wednesday, November 22, deputy governor, Natalie Haynes, informed that as of November 10, “all banknotes being issued by the BOJ are the polymer banknotes”.
Haynes informed that where it concerns deposits and withdrawals from Automated Banking Machines (ABMs):
“I’m happy to say that, at this point across the ABM network in Jamaica, 98 to 99 percent of the ABMs can dispense and accept the polymer banknotes.”
Regarding Jamaicans’ ability to recognise the different notes as the transition continues, Haynes maintained that each note is different in colour: however, acknowledged that it will take some time for persons to recognise or differentiate between them.
“What we tried to do is relative to the old notes; we tried to maintain, to the best possible, the same colour scheme. So, if you look back, starting from the $50, the red; for the $1,000, the blue; for the $100, green. What we changed was the $500 to the purple because for the old notes, the $500 and $5,000 were very similar in colour, and led to a lot of confusion,” Haynes said.
In the new polymer series, the $5,000 bill is brownish in colour, like the previous notes, and is now easily distinguished from the $500 bill. There has also been the addition of a new $2,000 bill to the family of banknotes.
It just takes time. I see where people put on social media that they’re mixing up the $100 and the $1,000. One is blue [and] one is green; and even if you don’t look at the colour, you can know your subjects on the banknotes,” the deputy governor underscored.
