SBP Announces Deadline to Exchange Old Banknotes

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced the last date for exchanging old banknotes of Rs. 10, 50, 100, and 1,000.

The last date to exchange old designed large-size banknotes of Rs 10, 50, 100 & 1000 is December 31, 2022. These old-design banknotes can be exchanged from the counters of SBP Banking Service Corporation (BSC) offices across the country till December 31, 2022.

State Bank is the sole issuer of banknotes in the country and collects soiled and unfit banknotes from the market and replaces them with fresh banknotes. Like other central banks, SBP issues new series of banknotes from time to time and demonetizes the earlier series with the approval of the Federal Government.

Further, the approval for the demonetization of banknotes is granted by the federal cabinet on the recommendations of the SBP Board in terms of section 25(2) of the SBP Act, 1956. The issuance of new series and demonetization of the old design banknotes helps central banks in checking to counterfeit and ensuring the integrity of banknotes in circulation. The new series of banknotes was issued from 2005 to 2008 and the old design banknotes have been slowly phased out from circulation.

The federal government has therefore decided to demonetize old design banknotes which have ceased to be Legal Tender effective from 1st December 2016.

The Old Design Banknotes of Rs. 10, 50, 100, and 1000 are exchangeable from the offices of the SBP BSCs located at Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Hyderabad, Sialkot, Sukkur, Bahawalpur, Muzaffarabad and D. I. Khan.

Previously, the last date for the exchange of old notes was December 31, 2021. It is noteworthy to point out that having currency notes demonetized six years ago, the central bank has changed its mind about canceling them.

The vintage Rs. 500 banknotes were the last of the central bank’s historic series to have been dropped from circulation as the new currency notes were being pushed for immediate use. Historically, the country’s third-largest currency note was initially positioned for de-circulation on September 30, 2011, and this deadline was later extended to October 1, 2012.