QCB Announces Launch of New Issue of Currency Notes on December 18

Doha, December 13 (QNA) - The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) announced putting the fifth issue of the Qatari currency into circulation to coincide with the Qatar National Day celebration. Executive Director of the Public Debt, Banking Affairs and Issuance at QCB Mohamed Jassim Al Kuwari said at a press conference that the new issue contains seven categories of banknotes, these are 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 Riyal, pointing that pursuant to the provisions of Articles (54 and 55) of the Qatar Central Bank Law and Regulation of Financial Institutions promulgated by Law No. (13) of 2012, it has been decided to withdraw banknotes from the fourth edition of circulation within a period of 90 days from the date of the new offering of the fifth issue on 12/18/2020. He underlined that the banknotes of the fourth issue will become illegal and indemnified currency as of Friday 19/03/2021 with the holder's right to recover its value from the Central Bank within a period not exceeding 10 years after that date. Al Kuwari pointed out that issuing the 200 riyals, which is a whole new cash category aims to bridge the gap between the 100 riyals and 500 Riyal banknote. On this occasion, Qatar Central Bank emphasized the importance of preserving the national currency and not tampering with it, whether by writing, perforating or otherwise, warning that these actions are criminalized by the provisions of Article 56 of the aforementioned Qatar Central Bank Law. Al Kuwari presented the features of the new banknotes, which he said had completely changed from the fourth edition, adding, that the fifth issue will be circulated first through ATMs, starting dawn of 18 December. He affirmed that the QCB has taken all necessary measures with regard to security marks and high-tech specifications, in addition to including, for the first time, the flag of the State of Qatar and the date of issuance of the banknote. At the press conference, Executive Director of the Public Debt, Banking Affairs and Issuance at QCB Mohamed Jassim Al Kuwari outlined security and technical characteristics of each category according to their respective value, starting from 38 specifications up to 64, adding that the State of Qatar is one of the first countries to develop these technical specifications, which their number is 64 international specifications for the large categories, whose colors have been chosen with great precision, a matter which contributes to easily differentiate each category from the other and will help certain societal segments (visually impaired and the elderly). He also reviewed the stages of currency printing. He pointed out that each of these categories has an aesthetic painting from Qatar's environment and heritage, and reflects Qatar's sovereignty in decision-making, as well as reflects heritage, economy, health and sports, adding that all categories have these elements. He noted that the first stage of the new issuance includes pumping QR 8 billion into banks, increasing it to QR 16 billion before the end of December, to reach QR 20 billion by the end of January 2021, pointing out that it is the same amount offered in the fourth issue. Al Kuwari said that what distinguishes these banknotes is the beauty of calligraphy as the State of Qatar is the second in the world after Britain in this regard, and it is also the first in the Middle East in terms of the holographic security threads in the category of QR 500 notes. He highlighted the stages of launching the new issue of the Qatari banknotes, starting with their distribution to banks in preparation for making them available in ATMs. He pointed out that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was not overlooked, as one of the categories of the new issue included stadiums for the tournament, and that the QCB has a huge project for the 2022 World Cup related to the issuance of commemorative coins, where designs and models are now being done. For his part, Director of the Issuance Department at Qatar Central Bank Khaled Abdullah Al Kuwari spoke of the mechanism for distributing banknotes to banks and then to the public, explaining that banks have been contacted in this regard for the process of pumping banknotes into them until December 18. During the press conference, he pointed out that in conjunction with the fifth issue, a new system had been put in place to track banknotes. He added that this system is based on a database linked to trading and with banks, indicating that it is a special database for the QCB that would facilitate the process of tracking banknotes with their serial numbers, as well as helping to know their validity and spoilage cycle, and their continuity in the markets and making future statistics for printing new ones. (QNA)