BSP set to import P18 B in printed pesos amid bigger shortfall
The coronavirus pandemic is supposed to have accelerated the shift to digital payments.
Strangely the opposite effect seems to be besetting the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, with its own mint not only unable to print the country’s banknote requirements, but is now even proposing to triple the budget for outsourcing the production of pesos to foreign suppliers.
According to a confidential proposal from Assistant Governor Dahlia Luna, head of the Security Printing Complex, the country’s monetary authority needs to allot about P18.68 billion for next year’s importation to ensure the adequate supply of P500 and P1,000 notes with enhanced security features.
The proposed amount is more than triple the P4.95 billion allocated by the central bank this year for a similar importation.
Last year when Benjamin Diokno assumed the governorship, the budget for imported banknotes stood at a much smaller P2.65 billion.
According to the grapevine, the higher demand for the imported banknotes was triggered by the Bangko Sentral’s decision to add more security features to the P50, P100, P200, P500, and P1,000 notes even before the Security Printing Complex could upgrade the existing presses to be able to produce the so-called enhanced new generation currency series with three-dimensional holographic features.
Compounding the numismatic challenge is the mission drift of the Bangko Sentral, whose monetary presses have been repurposed to print land titles, condominium certificates, passports and, now, the national IDs.
Even with the increasing importation of the so-called ‘e-ngc’ notes, the Bangko Sentral will apparently continue printing the current notes, instead of demonetizing with the less-secure series. Proof? A bidding is scheduled on Oct. 28 for the supply of inks needed to print the previous-generation notes. The contract is worth about 490,000-euro (over P28 million) worth of ink, including the supply of inks for the P20-note that is supposed to be replaced by the P20-coin.