Rwandans should use less of hard cash in their daily transactions in order to avoid banknotes in circulation wearing faster, John Rwangombwa, governor of the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), has said.

Speaking during a news conference on the planned issuance of new Rwf2,000 and Rwf5,000 notes, yesterday, Rwangombwa said many Rwandans today had not adopted the use of innovative platforms like ‘mobile money’ to purchase items or send money.

"Rwanda still predominantly uses cash which makes money get old faster. Therefore, in order for us to reduce the costs of printing new money each time, we need people to use electronic cards and mobile money while shopping, paying electricity bills, in bars and buying airtime,” he said.

The central bank spent $1.9 million (about Rwf1.3 billion) in printing the notes that are expected to go into circulation as soon as the Presidential Order, which the Cabinet approved last month, is officially gazetted.

It was expected that the company which would win the tender to print the notes would print 25 million of the Rwf2,000 notes and 10 million of the Rwf5,000 notes.

Routine replenishment

The governor said the reason for the issuance of the Rwf2,000 and Rwf5,000 new bank notes is a routine replenishment of the stock of the banknotes.

"As usual, the more money exchanges hands, the more it gets old and as a central bank we are supposed to burn the old notes we collect . As we do that, money reduces in the circulation system to a point where we need to issue new ones,” Rwangombwa said.

He confirmed that none of the two banknotes’ designs had been changed apart from the security features of the notes, which had been strengthened, and French dropped from the writings at the back to reduce ‘clutter’.

"Much as French is one of the official languages according to the Constitution, it’s not a must that we use three languages on the notes as long as people are able to use the money comfortably,” Rwangombwa said.

Rwanda’s currency has not changed in terms of colours and features since 1994 when the central bank changed all the banknotes in the system.

In 2007, BNR introduced the Rwf2,000 note and started phasing out the use of Rwf100 notes, replacing it with coins. Since then, it has been printing new notes while improving on their security features to avoid counterfeiting.

Once the new banknotes are in circulation, the use of the current Rwf2,000 and Rwf5,000 notes will start phasing out as well.