BSP starts printing new generation currencies

MANILA, Philippines - All denominations of the new generation of banknotes will be printed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) beginning next year in time for the formal demonetization of the old bills, allowing the institution to save costs.

“By 2013, based on projections, we will fully meet all currency requirements,” BSP Deputy Governor Juan de Zuñiga told The STAR last Friday.

BSP, which has been in the red for the past two years, is outsourcing the printing of the new banknotes since its inception in late-2010. 

The central bank has then moved to acquire new equipment to enable it to produce the new banknotes by itself, De Zuñiga said. As of today, one of the two facilities is already printing the new 20-peso bill, while the other one is undergoing procurement process abroad.

Once the first printer becomes “fully commissioned” and the second one arrives next year, the BSP’s Security Plant Complex in Quezon City will be able to print all currencies, he added.

“We will be able to save costs once that happens in a sense that we will no longer order finished banknotes abroad. But we will still order the paper, ink and other raw materials because local factories do not have capabilities to provide them,” De Zuñiga said. According to the BSP Annual Report last year, currency printing and minting costs amounted to P4.678 billion for the first 11 months of 2011, already exceeding the annual budget of P4.276 billion. The actual amount was spent for minting coins and printing both the newly-unveiled banknotes and old ones.

“We cannot say that we have stopped producing (old bills) because we have not announced their formal demonetization, which could be made next year,” De Zuñiga said.