The Central Bank (CB) in a novel way to attract the attention of those who mutilate currency notes, is running a series of newspaper ads placing the importance of ‘loving your currency.”
“.. have you considered loving your currency notes and the coins we use every single day?” the bank asked in an recent ad. “We all love to have crisp notes and sparkling coins What would you feel if you get damaged, folded notes with drawings and giving out bad smell…? it asked, saying “ the first thing a foreigner would use in our beautiful paradise will be our currency. What would be their first impression on us? Will that be admiration or detestation?”
The ad asked: “Don’t you want your homeland to be inviting, clean and hygienic?”
CB Deputy Governor Dr Dharma Dheerasinghe said hundreds of notes are soiled and have writings on it which make it useless for legal tender, under the law. “Mutilation of notes is an offence but no one notices these ads that we run warning the public. Thus we thought of trying a different approach to attract public attention on the need to avoid mutilating notes,” he told the Business Times.
He said when banks bring money to the CB, the CB’s highly-sensitive machines detect and reject these notes, unlike the less-sophisticated machines used by commercial banks. “We are seeing an increase in the number of soiled or mutilated notes in recent times.” |
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