The South African Reserve Bank has weighed in on recent talks to introduce a new R500 banknote and an R10 coin.
There has been a growing debate on whether the country should consider higher denominations of coins and notes. This is due to the country’s struggles with the rising cost of inflammation and increasing cost of living.
According to the bank, the country is not ready for a R500 banknote due to several reasons.
“The results of the (latest) study revealed that South Africa is not ready for an R 500 stipulated where that the introduction, R200 in our case, is the most circulated banknote.
“This is however not the case in South Africa as the R100 denomination is the most circulating banknote. The other reason is whether the R200 is still used as a store of value-which it is and therefore does not warrant a change”, said the bank.
The SA Reserve Bank said that they are constantly doing research to determine whether to move into using higher denomination coins including the R10 coin and introducing even higher one banknotes such as R500, said the bank.
According to research, data published at the end of 2021 reflected the R100 denomination to be the most popular, showing an average of 776.6 million physical banknotes in circulation between the period of March 2020 and June 2021.
The R200 denomination followed right behind, with an average of 307.3 million banknotes that are said to have circulated during the same period.
South Africans have taken to social media to share their views on the possibilities of this new change:
“Imagine if I lose R500 note chile”
Imagine if I lose a R500 note chile😭😭😭 #R500 #SenzoMeyiwaTrail https://t.co/HSszNJpVsW pic.twitter.com/dewOVQyTlZ
— pisces.girl (@toriwalker919) June 6, 2022
“To be honest, South Africa is fastly becoming like Zimabawe… Everything is expensive, no jobs, currency at its lowest… So it comes as no surprise to me that they wanna introduce a R500 note and R5 note as well… A R100 is more like R10 today”.
To be honest, South Africa is fastly becoming like Zimbabwe.. Everything is expensive, no jobs, currency at its lowest… So it comes as no surprise to me that they wanna introduce a R500 note and R5 note as well.. A R100 is more like R10 today🤞#R500 #FuelPrice pic.twitter.com/xq3gH97lRc
— TheMooreOfSoweto (@SowetoMoore) June 6, 2022
“We are going to become Zimbabwe soon”
We are going to become Zimbabwe soon #R500 R500
— Sego.🦋 (@Sego_Segow) June 6, 2022
