CHECK THE PROBLEMS WITH BEAC'S NEW BANK NOTES

LACK OF DURABILITY OF BEAC'S NEW BANK NOTES

Newly produced BEAC bank note just two months after circulation

 The production of the new BEAC bank notes has come to replace the old once whom might be for reasons like making it hard for counterfeiting but instead the durability of these bank notes is not good. This could be seen as most of the bank notes hardly last for up to a month without the layers pilling off making them less of money quality but instead like trashed papers.
 When compared to the old bank notes the main difference is their plastic nature which might be advantageous of being water proof and making it hard for the production of counterfeit but apart from that they are being criticised by the entire public just months after circulation. The picture below is that of the old bank note which has made more two months of circulation:

Old Beac bank note after two months of circulation

However, the public is yet to reconcile the initial declaration of BEAC with what they now find in the banknotes. The earlier trumpeted durability is being questioned because the slippery, smooth and shiny feature of the notes fades away in no time, leaving it with a dull and unpleasant look. The irony is that the notes tend out to be worse than the previous ones – the plastic paper on the leaf peels off at any given moment. The paper band in most occasions separates from the note and gives an unappealing sight.
A woman vendor made a mockery of the notes when she told the Cameroon Journal that the 500, 1000 and 2000 FRS bills are laminated because they are the poor man’s money and are likely to be handled poorly at Mokolo and other big markets in the country. According to her, the 5000 and 10,000 notes are for the rich and likely to be handled with care. She said the 5000 and 10000 notes rarely get deformed.
“Sometimes one holds the laminated bank notes before realizing that they swell and peel off… I hate those bank notes even ‘Kumba made’ is better,” a store keeper said.
Some users have blamed the fast deteriorating nature of the new banknotes to poor handling. Ayuk Jones, a taxi driver observed that: “This issue of the new bank notes fast depreciating can also be blamed on careless handling. Take for example, a palm oil dealer who after serving a customer receives the money immediately with his palms still soiled with oil. How then will you not expect the notes to not only deteriorate but have their colours changed?”
The new BEAC’s banknotes do not circulate in Cameroon only. They also circulate in other five countries that make up the CEMAC franc zone. They include Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Central African Republic and Congo Brazzaville.
It is not clear whether these countries experience the same trouble Cameroonians do with the banknotes.

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Wednesday, July 29, 2015