Hiiraan Online
Wednesday June 13, 2018
Mogadishu (HOL) The highest denomination of banknotes will be 10,000 and 5,000 Somali Shilling note, the country's Central Bank confirmed on Tuesday.
Since the collapse of the Somali government in 1991, the monetary system, as every other institution either disintegrated or fell into the hands of warlords and shady businessmen. There was an emergence of importing counterfeit currency from foreign printers. To this day nearly every Somali shilling currently in circulation is counterfeit. Owing to the lack of confidence in the Somali shilling, the U.S. dollar is widely accepted as a medium of exchange.
In an interview with Hiiraan Online, Central Bank Governor Bashir Isse Ali said the country will get notes with security features that will meet international standards.
"To get the new currency, the government put a lot of efforts, the process passed through different stages. Now it is the last phase of printing the currency," said Ali.
Ali had indicated the country would be spending $41 million to print new currency notes.
“The notes will be in denominations of 5,000 and 10,000. The sample of banknotes will be best one," the governor pointed out.
Ali confirmed that the new Somali currency will be difficult to be faked by counterfeiters and organised criminals.
"To reproduce this currency will very difficult, whoever tries to print it, will have to spend a lot of resources which truly does not has any benefit for them," he affirmed.
The governor hinted that government will also print the highest denomination which will be a 20,000 Somali shilling note and a 50,000 note.
Bashir Issa Ali told VOA in an interview earlier this year that all technical preparations are complete, and his government is confident it can assemble a financial aid package within three months to fund the printing program.