As per the federal government’s Gazette Notification, old design banknotes will cease to be legal tender with effect from December 01, 2016.
“Therefore, it has now been decided to phase out all remain in gold design banknotes of Rs10, 50, 100 and 1000, said a statement issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) here on Friday.
The Rs5 banknote and the old design Rs500 banknote have already been demonetised.
It is worth mentioning that the SBP issued a new design banknote series which started with the issuance of Rs20 denomination banknote in 2005 to improve the security, durability and aesthetic quality of banknotes.
The process of issuance of complete series of new design banknotes comprising eight denominations (Rs5, 10, 20, 50, 100,500, 1,000 and 5,000) was completed in 2008. The commercial and microfinance banks will accept the old design banknotes of Rs10, 50, 100 and 1000 and exchange the same with the new design banknotes and coins of all denominations up to November 30, 2016 only.
However, SBP BSC field offices will continue to accept the old design banknotes of Rs10, 50, 100 and 1000 from general public up to December 31, 2021. The last day to exchange all old design banknotes from banks is November 30, 2016.
All old design banknotes shall cease to be legal tender on December 01, 2016 while last day to exchange all such banknotes from SBP BSC field offices is December 31, 2021.
The surprise step appears to be designed to bring billions of dollars worth of cash in unaccounted wealth into the mainstream economy.
“Black money and corruption are the biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty,” he said in an address to the nation.
New 500 and 2,000 rupee denomination notes will be issued later, he added.
