May 13 2004
In September 2003, the Bank of Zambia launched the first polymer bank notes in Africa when they released the plastic 500 and 1000 kwacha banknotes. However, since their release, their performance has been disappointing.
Following the lead of other countries like Australia, Zambia was lead to believe that they could reduce costs of creating and maintaining their currency by moving to polymer notes. The polymer denominations cost twice as much to print, but should last four times as long.
The Zambian banknotes suffered from problems like easily rubbed off serial numbers and premature fading.
Despite the problems associated with the polymeric banknotes, the Bank of Zambia will not be withdrawing the polymer banknotes from circulation, rather they will expedite the process of replacing unfit notes. Furthermore, they believe that the polymer banknotes are the way of the future.
For more information on coins, click here.