BEAC puts into circulation new range of banknotes in central Africa

In the six countries of the Economic Community of Central Africa (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Chad, CAR and Equatorial Guinea), the BEAC (Bank of Central African States) has put into circulation new banknotes from December 15. On posters and banners announcing these new banknotes, the BEAC emphasizes that these are "more compact, more modern and better secured" banknotes that it has put into circulation.

"For the production of these bills, BEAC has used technology that puts it one step ahead of counterfeiters. These bills have modern security features that are difficult to forge," Emmanuel Asafor Sho, BEAC's deputy national director for Cameroon, told the agency on Thursday.

"It is a technology that has significantly improved the quality of cash circulation by gradually replacing the bills of the 2002 range, most often worn, by new bills of the 2020 range," he added stressing that "to ensure the authenticity of a bill, it is sufficient to apply the method "TRI", a simple, fast and effective method that combines three gestures: Touch, Look, Tilt.

This new range comes after the 2002 range, 20 years later. According to the Bank of Central African States, these new bills were put into circulation on December 15 in accordance with the decision taken on November 7 in Douala by the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC).

The BEAC had stressed in a press release last November that despite the introduction of new banknotes of the 2020 range, the 2002 range of banknotes continues to be in force in the Economic Community of Central Africa (Cemac).