Bank of PNG warns of circulation of demonetised bank notes

In light of reports that old PNG paper banknotes are circulating in the country, the Bank of PNG has come out to say that these notes are not legal tender anymore and cannot be exchanged for plastic notes from the bank.

BPNG Governor Mr. Loi Bakani in a press conference today revealed this and added that the public must know this and refrain from receiving these old paper notes because they have been demonetised or made valueless when replacing them with the polymer or plastic bank notes currently being used today.
It is believed these notes are coming into the country from the Asian region and could be from a container shipment of old paper banknotes sent to be recycled in Europe that went missing in a port in Asia back in 2013. The container contained a total of K160million of old paper banknotes.
“We have evidence of that stock of money trying to find its way back to PNG. We have received some of them already, but we have not changed them because they are not legal tender in PNG anymore,” Mr. Bakani said.

The concern now is that these old paper banknotes could be used during this election time and as such the Bank is urging the public to be mindful of this.
Meanwhile, a public notice regarding this matter will be released next week in the newspapers to make aware the public about it.