The long wait for President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s visage to feature on the P10 note has ended this week when the central bank launhced the new polymer bank note with new features meant to protect the public against bacteria and virus propagation.
Bank of Botswana governor – Moses Pelaelo said that the new emission of the P10 banknote has maintained the same polymer substrate, design theme and features as the circulating note introduced in 2018 save for certain qualities to extend the longevity of the banknote.
The governor said the polymer substrate has a longer life span 3 – 4 times that of the older cotton or paper banknote. However, “it is still subject to a slow rate of withdrawal from circulation; hence the evident large and the unacceptable number of poor quality of the banknote that continues to circulate.”
What is worth noting in some of the changes made in the new P10 note is the ultra-post-print varnish with Bioguard . “The Ultra post-print varnish protects the banknote against dust and any kind of liquid, while the Bioguard component is a key substance used to protect the public against bacteria and virus propagation by banknotes,” Pelaelo said. The governor stated that the overall effect is to increase the durability of the banknote by 42 percent.
This time, BoB has contracted a France-based money printing company to print 18.5 million P10 banknotes at the tune of 0.59 thebe each. The governor said P10.9 million was used to procure the new P10 batch circulating today from Oberthur Fiduciaire. In 2018, the P10 banknotes showing the face of former president Ian Khama were printed at a cost of around P9 million. The P10 polymer banknote was printed by the world’s largest designer and commercial printer of banknotes De La Rue, a UK based company.
