Older versions of Saudi Arabia currency will soon go out of circulation, reports Saudi Gazette, quoting a financial analyst. "Old Saudi currencies will disappear from the market in five years," said Hussein Al Rakib, according to the country's media. The report also stated, "the destruction of previous versions of currency notes will be carried out inside Saudi Arabia starting Monday, as soon as they are received by the central bank. The new currency notes will be processed outside the Kingdom, most likely in Switzerland." Earlier this month, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) had announced the release of new designs of Saudi banknotes and coins. Along with a video, the SAMA website stated: "SAMA is pleased to announce that it will reveal the designs of the sixth issue of national banknotes and coins "Confidence and Security" for the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Tuesday (13/12/2016)." Watch: SAMA Governor Ahmed Al Khulaifi announced, "SAMA has introduced SR2 in the form of coins and also minted coins of SR1. The new coins and banknotes will be available at all branches of SAMA from December 26." "The number of SR1 banknotes constitutes half of the banknotes in circulation. This posed challenges and it was thus decided to gradually replace it with coins. Circulating the coins has many positive effects on the Saudi economy because the average coin cycle is between 20 and 25 years while that of paper currency is estimated to be between 12 and 18 months, depending on the circumstances," the monetary agency added. nilanjana@khaleejtimes.com
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