Old banknotes 'til December 31 only

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reminds anew the public that the deadline for redemption of old banknotes is only until December 31.

“Those old banknotes series (NDS) launched in 1985 will no longer be acceptable as payment for any transaction starting January 1, 2017,” BSP said in a press statement.

But the country’s central monetary authority emphasized that NDS can still be exchanged at face value, free of charge, in authorized agent banks (AABs) and at the BSPCash Department or any of Regional Offices and Branches of the BSP.

“NDS banknotes shall cease to be a liability of the BSP and shall be considered demonetized on 1 January 2017,” BPS added.

BSP noted that in early 2015, there were 711.7 million pieces or P184.3 billion NDS notes in circulation.

As of September 2016, 305.4 million pieces of the old banknotes valued at P26.1 billion remained in circulation.

“In terms of value, only 2.9 percent of the total banknotes in circulation were NDS banknotes.

However, BSP made exceptions and extensions on the following:

All NDS notes depos-

ited to Authorized Agent Banks and inventoried at the Offices of Municipal/City/Provincial Treasurers on or before December 31 can be exchanged until March 31, 2017.

For Overseas Filipinos who can register up to P50,000 of their old banknotes on the website: https:// orbs.bsp.gov.ph within the registration period set from October 1 to December 31, 2016, their NDS can still be exchanged within a year from the date of registration.

For those who are situated in war torn countries, the deadline for exchange is extended to December 31, 2017, no need for any registration.

All NDS notes in the custody of Clerks of Courts and Law Enforcement Agencies as of December 31, 2016 can be exchanged until January 31, 2017. NDS notes that are subject of court cases can be exchanged within six months after the corresponding legal cases have been terminated. ASP