Burundi: new banknotes of ten thousand and five thousand put into circulation

The Bank of the Republic of Burundi (BRB) has announced the circulation of new banknotes of ten thousand and five thousand francs to replace those issued in 2018. The governor of the BRB decided so after noting an increase in fiduciary circulation in the informal circuit, thus leading to the instability of the activities of financial institutions. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon. The governor of the BRB through a public statement declared that there is a shortage of ten thousand francs and five thousand Burundian francs notes in the coffers of banks and microfinance institutions leading to the destabilization of payment activities and funds transfer.

During a press briefing, Dieudonné Murengerantwari indicated that”the 2 banknotes in question: ( 10,000 and 5,000 BIF) dated July 04, 2018 are withdrawn from circulation from June 07, 2023″.

He specified that a time limit of 10 days is granted to the holders of those notes to deposit them in their accounts. And for those who do not have one, they must open them in order to respect the given time limit.

It should be noted that on an account of a natural person, the total of deposits is limited to 10 million Burundian francs while a legal person is authorized to deposit an amount not exceeding 30 million per day and per account.

During this press conference, the governor of the central bank specified that the bank will deploy its agents in order to help the inhabitants of the rural places far from the points of sale.

New banknotes of ten thousand and five thousand francs dated November 7, 2022 have just been put into circulation, the BRB said.

Some think that the BRB has just implemented the plan of the President of the Republic who recently threatened those keeping colossal sums of money at home, that they will one day end up with cash that will be transformed into simple paper.

This Thursday, a spokesman for the ministry in charge of internal affairs and security called on provincial governors to “raise awareness among people of the remote areas so that everyone is informed of this central bank measure”.

In the commercial city of Bujumbura, several sources testified that they saw many commercial bank customers “swarming to deposit very large sums of money in their accounts”.