YEREVAN, November 22. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Central Bank has unveiled today the prototypes of composite banknotes of the third generation, which are expected to be put into circulation in November 2018, when the Central Bank will mark the 25th anniversary of introduction of Armenian national currency- the dram. Composite are banknotes are banknotes made partly of paper and partly of polymers (plastic).
Central Bank secretary general David Nahapetyan said the regulator has issued a prototype of a new banknote with a nominal value of 500 drams. He said the prototype banknote has the best protective signs that will be used in all other composite banknotes.
The size of the 500 drams banknote is 140 x 76 mm. The banknote is printed on high-quality composite hybrid raw material. On both sides the banknote is covered with cotton paper, protected by a thin layer of polyester.
In May 2017, the Central Bank had announced a tender for printing composite banknotes, choosing the German company Giesecke & Devrient. The competition of sketches was won by Edward Kurghinyan, Vardan Vardanyan and Suren Simonyan.
The existing banknotes will be gradually replaced by new generation banknotes. The Central Bank will put into circulation also a new banknote with the face value of 2,000 drams and will stop printing banknotes with the nominal value of 100,000 drams due to low demand. -0-
