The Central Bank of Bolivia has launched its new banknote series with the issuance of the new Bs10 banknote.

The new Bolivia Bs. 10 banknote entered circulation on 10 April 2018, the first of the new banknote series called Primera Familia de Billetes (PFB), which translates to the First Family of Banknotes.

The design of the banknote includes a predominantly blue colour scheme and portraits of the country’s historical leaders of independence, namely José Santos Vargas known as “El Tambor Vargas”, Apiaguaiki Tüpa and Eustaquio Méndez known as “El Moto Méndez.

The design on the reverse of the note includes an image of the Isla del Pescado, a rocky outcrop of land located in the middle of the Salar de Uyuni salt flat.

Key security features include a colour-shifting 4mm windowed security thread – suggested to be Picture Thread™ by Arjowiggins – including portraits of José Santos Vargas, as well as a SPARK® Rolling bar feature depicting an image of the region’s Giant Hummingbird, which changes colour from green to gold as the banknote is tilted.

The banknote has been printed by Oberthur Fiduciaire.

All the notes of the new series continue to have the same size dimensions as their predecessors. The Bs.10 is 14cm by 7cm.

The Central Bank advises that the average production cost of each banknote of the new series is 42 cents, and a total of 671 million banknotes has been requested at a cost of US $38.92 million. Of this amount, 214 million Bs.10 banknotes will be issued by the Central Bank.

The prior banknote series will continue to circulate until they are withdrawn due to wear and/ or damage.

Read more about the new banknote series at the Central Bank of Bolivia website.

Read the Central Bank of Bolivia press release.