Even as the $5,000 note was yesterday launched Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh renewed a call on businesses to implement systems to move away from large cash transactions to plastic and cheques.
The new green-coloured note, which highlights the country’s natural resources in its design, goes into circulation on December 9 countrywide and can be used for the payment of any amount.
“Today the technology exists… For whatever reason a person might be holding a large amount of cash I believe it is something that should be discouraged,” Singh said.
“Every time I read… about an entrepreneur or an individual robbed of a large volume of cash, I’m always caught between a rock and hard place because I want obviously to sympathise and empathise with the persons. But I feel at the same time they need to remind themselves that there is really no need in today’s world to be handling and keeping large volumes of cash,” he added.
Singh said that while reasons vary for carrying large amounts of cash, such as being traditional or “avoiding the official radar of taxes or otherwise,” he wanted to urge the populace that cheques and cards were the way to go.
He stressed that given the advent of and everyday development of technology globally, there was no reason for using large amounts of cash.
Opposition Leader David Granger told Stabroek News that he too believes plastic and cheques should be encouraged but welcomed the new note even as he called for banking facilities for the hinterlands. “Now, particularly in the gold mining areas, huge amounts of money are moved and the banking system has not been sufficiently developed. So I would feel that the introduction of a currency note which can ease the convenience could have some benefits for the users particularly in the hinterland,” he said.
“Of course it might facilitate some other types of crime but as a matter of convenience we feel that there needs to be consideration to the huge amount of money being moved about and the fact that we have not been able to adopt a plastic system of electronic transfers or the use of credit cards or other instruments to facilitate financial transfers.”
Deputy Governor of the Bank of Guyana Dr Gobind Ganga explained that while a non-cash system was most desirable, the new currency comes in wake of calls for a more efficient payment system—a demand it is anticipated to meet.
He said that from now until circulation date there will be a countrywide sensitisation process to edify users on security features, which total seven and are also geared for the differently abled.
