(MONROVIA, January 31, 2022): The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has burnt L$669,000,000 (Six Hundred Sixty-Nine Million) in mutilated banknotes. The destruction, which took place on Saturday, January 29, 2022, in Bentol City, Montserrado County, is part of the Bank’s currency reform program.
CBL Executive Governor, J. Aloysius Tarlue, Jr. said the public destruction of the mutilated banknotes is part of the rebranding of the Bank, aimed at ensuring transparency. Governor Tarlue said though the Bank has a machine to destroy the mutilated money, it takes a longer time to shred, “so we felt the need for transparency.”
Governor Tarlue said the destruction of the mutilated banknotes will also provide more space to accommodate additional Liberian dollar banknotes expected to be brought into the country this month.
The CBL Executive Governor added that the burning of the mutilated banknotes does not mean that there will be no mutilated money on the Liberian market. He said there is still mutilated money in circulation, but efforts are continuing to remove all mutilated money from circulation.
Several stakeholders, including representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), African Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) witnessed the destruction. Representatives of the House & Senate Committees on Banking & Currency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs; civil society organizations; the National Foreign Exchange Bureau and the press also witnessed the destruction.
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