GEISHA KOW­LESSAR-AlON­ZO

geisha.kow­lessar@guardian.co.tt

The Cen­tral Bank has un­veiled its con­cept de­signs for the new poly­mer ban­knote se­ries.

Ac­cord­ing to the bank’s web­site which dis­played the new notes, the el­e­ments of the up­dat­ed de­sign are con­sis­tent with the $100 poly­mer notes that re­placed the old cot­ton-based notes which ceased to be le­gal ten­der on De­cem­ber 31, 2019.

The new bank notes in the $50, $20, $10, $5 and $1 quan­ti­ties fea­ture T&T Coat of Arms, the na­tion­al flag above the bills’ de­nom­i­na­tions and a clear win­dow which can be seen from the front and back of the note.

All bills will main­tain lo­cal birds fea­tured on the notes cur­rent­ly in cir­cu­la­tion: the Red Capped Car­di­nal ($50), the Hum­ming­bird ($20), the Cocrico ($10), the Blue crowned mot-mot ($5) and the Scar­let Ibis ($1).

The Pointe-a-Pierre re­fin­ery on the right side of the back of the $1 note has been re­placed with an im­age of the Red House.

All the ban­knotes re­main the same defin­ing colour, but the Bank’s award-win­ning $50 Ban­knote has got a make-over.

It is now en­tire­ly or­ange and does not have hints of green or yel­low.

The Cen­tral Bank had pre­vi­ous­ly in­di­cat­ed that some de­nom­i­na­tions of the new notes will be avail­able from Sep­tem­ber 2020.

The ban­knotes will al­so in­cor­po­rate up­grad­ed se­cu­ri­ty fea­tures—tac­tile im­print, mi­cro-per­fo­ra­tions, mi­cro-let­ter­ing, shim­mer­ing met­al print and up­dat­ed se­cu­ri­ty thread ap­pli­ca­tions.

Poly­mer notes are al­so more durable, clean­er op­tions to cot­ton-based notes which re­dounds to over­all cost sav­ings.