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BRASILIA, July 9 (AFP) - The Central Bank of Brazil plans to
launch waterproof plastic bank notes in 2000 as part of the
country's 500th anniversary celebration, a Bank official said
Friday. Some 250 million new 10-real bills will be printed up,
half of which will be put into public circulation on April 22, 2000,
500 years to the day the country was discovered by Portuguese
explorers.
But more than merely commemorative, the new plastic note will
serve as a trial run prior to the entire Brazilian paper currency
being renewed, Edison Bernardes said.
Reported to last some four times longer than the traditional
paper bill, the plastic 10 reals will feature Portuguese navigator
Alves Cabral on one side and a digital image of the map of Brazil on
the other.
Printing the new bill will cost the country about 58 percent
more than paper, the Bank of Brazil expects to spend seven million
reals (3.8 million dollars) more to produce 250 million new
notes. However Brazil expects to save 46 million reals (25.5
million dollars) over five years given the longer durability of the
plastic bill, Bernardes said, pointing out that plastic bills are
already in use in Australia, Brunei and Thailand.
He also said the plastic money was a lot harder to forge,
adding that 60 percent of the forgeries in Brazil are of the same
10-real bills. Last year authorities seized 286,000 false
10-real
bills.
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