Bangko Sentral to demonetize P61B worth of peso bills

Some P61.354 billion worth of old peso bills currently in circulation will no longer be eligible as legal tender for daily transactions next year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Monday.

According to the central bank, there are still 414,647,339 pieces of the New Design Series (NDS) banknotes worth P61,354,940,405.00 in circulation.

This represents 14.60 percent of the total banknotes in circulation.

Starting January 1, 2016, the bills can no longer be used as legal tender for daily transactions. But the banknotes can still be exchanged in authorized agent banks and BSP offices or any of their regional branches.

“Starting January 1, 2016, they can only be exchanged in banks. Starting January 1, 2017, they can no longer be exchanged, no longer be used,” BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo told reporters at a briefing.

“The total in circulation as of October 31 is 2.8 billion pieces, of which New Generation Currency (NGC) banknotes comprise 2.4 billion and about 415 million pieces of NDS,” he said.

“'Yun na lang natitira that we need to get by the end of the year. We do expect to get back all of these 415 million pieces,” he added.

Guinigundo appealed to business owners to still accept the old banknote series as they still have value until the end of 2015.

“We always encourage our people – those who own sari-sari stores, gas stations, even [public utility] drivers, to continue accepting the NDS series of our banknotes because they are still good until the end of December 2015,” he said.

The NDS or the peso bills launched in 1985 will fully lose any monetary value starting January 1, 2017, the BSP earlier said.

Authorized bank will still accept and change the demonetized notes until December 31, 2016. – VS, GMA News