By: Hassan Osman Kargbo
The Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ibrahim Stevens, has informed news men that the Bank of Sierra Leone-BSL has collected over 85% of the old note currency in the country.
He made this disclosure at the Ministry of Information and Civic Education press conference on the 20th February 2024, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation conference room at Tower Hills Freetown.
According to the Bank Governor, the Bank of Sierra Leone has done a lot over the past months and they would continue to do more. Dr. Stevens added that when BSL made the announcement about the old note to be illegal in the country, there were a lot of rumours moving around but he confirmed that they had planned it in a very simple but well organized way for the people of Sierra Leone not to face any difficulties in this redenomination process.
He said that they had tried to educate the public to understand that when the old note stopped to be legal, the people would not lose anything because from now to the 31st of March 2024 all Banks are obliged to take all the old note and replace it with the new note for the people.
He admitted that base on the records that they have gathered at BSL, they have collected over 85% of the old note that were outside. He said there is still time for citizens to take their old note to the nearest Bank so that the Bank would replace it with the new note, adding that there is no charges for that and the process is free of cost.
He furthered that even if citizens miss out on the deadline date which is the 31st of March, BSL could still change the old note to the new note and let the public don’t hesitate to visit the Bank of Sierra Leone to change their old currencies, adding that BSL has the Apex Bank as their agent and Apex Bank would be always open for the citizens to change their old note in the country so people must make use of the Apex Bank.
Dr. Stevens furthered informed the public that the abbreviation for the country’s new currency is ‘NLe’ locally and International is ‘SLE’ and said for accountability and historic purpose the Bank intends to keep the ‘Le’ as a legal abbreviation as the Bank is working on taking an amendment of the Bank’s Act to Parliament so that they could retain the ‘Le’ in the Act.
He thanked the general public for their support in working with the Bank of Sierra Leone and for the confident and trusts they bestowed on the BSL in achieving the redenomination process in the country.
