The plenary of the House of Representatives on Thursday, March 18, 2021, during its regular session adopted a resolution, signed by over fifty (50) Representatives, to print new Liberian dollar banknotes to replace the current currency in circulation.
“We have been working on the signing of the resolution for the printing of the new Liberian dollar family banknote since last year, and the committee has been doing its work in the process. Following the long period of discussion on the matter, the House resolved today to adopt a resolution with the hope of having a timely concurrence by the Liberian Senate,” Speaker Bhofal Chambers told legislative reporters in an interview following the adoption of the resolution.
According the Speaker Chambers, the expected New Liberian dollars banknotes will be in the tone of L$48,734,734,000 (forty-eight billion, seven hundred and thirty four million, seven hundred and thirty four thousand Liberian dollars). The Speaker further told reporters that the government will spend over US$45 million to print the new banknotes. According to him, it will take three to six months to have the money in circulation.
Speaker Chambers, in his assertion, noted that the expected banknotes will be in ten, twenty, fifty, hundred and five hundred dollar bills. He emphasized that the body rejected the portion of the resolution to print one thousand dollar banknote.
“Our market will require the presence of exchange medium; so the access to having money enhances finance freedom, and so it is against this backdrop that we resolved to have an overwhelming passage of the resolution,” Dr. Chambers explained.
The resolution came from the House’s Committee on Banking and Currency, headed by Montserrado County’s district #16 Representative, Dixon Seboe.
However, members of the House of Representatives have informed the Hot Pepper that the new currency will not contain a L$5 note; instead, all denominations below L$10 will be in the form of coins.
Representative Richard Koon, also a member of the Committee on Banking and Currency, said there will no longer be L$5 note, and that their decision to reject the printing of the L$1,000 note is being reconsidered. According to him, the printing of the L$1,000 bill could possibly be adopted by the Liberian Senate, and if it happens, the lower House will not hesitate to concur with the upper House.
Speaking to the printing of the L$5, Representative Solomon Claudius George noted that making the L$5 a note is no longer necessary, as its value is worthless. He said even the children nowadays throw the L$5 note away, especially when it is old. According to him, the coins will serve better than the L$5 note, and that he was in concurrence with the dissolution of the L$5 banknote.
A banker who spoke to the Hot Pepper said the decision of the House of Representatives to adopt the resolution to print a new family of banknotes is in the right direction.
