On the 29th April 2015, the Bank of the Republic of Burundi (BRB), the country’s Central Bank, launched a new series of banknotes consisting of BIF 500, BIF 2000, BIF 5,000 and BIF 10,000 notes.
The paper notes are designed using bright colours, different to the design of the denominations before them: the 500 is orange, 2,000 is pink, 5,000 is blue and 10,000 yellow.
The new banknotes have been issued with modern security features to keep the notes up to date with modern anti-counterfeiting security features which, the Bank says, “improve safety and durability”.
All notes include:
- windowed metallic security threads
- colour changing ink (viewable when tilting the banknote). The lower two denominations use De La Rue’s OVI® ink whereas the top two use Sicpa’s SPARK® feature
- tactile features consisting of raised ink squares for the visually impaired to allow them to identify different denominations
- watermarks
- a see through feature – a fish which, when held to the light, can be seen from both sides of the note.
The notes have been issued into circulation and will run alongside the previously circulated banknote denominations for a period of three months, during which members of the public can exchange their old notes for the new denominations in any bank or financial institution throughout the country. At the end of this period, old denomination banknotes of 10, 20 and 50 will become obsolete.
At the launch of the new banknotes, the BRB’s Governor, M. Jean CIZA, asked the public to care for the notes by not bending them more than twice and keeping them dry “because their manufacture is costly to the Bank”.
“the more tickets will wear quickly, the Bank is forced to import from abroad. This causes a huge budget that could be allocated to other investment projects [from which] Burundi that would benefit. “
The Governor also asked members of the public to keep their money in banks and financial institutions to reduce hoarding of banknotes.
