From the times of President Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda up to Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, it was a well-known monetary policy that when the Reserve Bank of Malawi introduced new bank notes, the old bank notes’ circulation life span was short.

The trick was simple and straightforward: once the new note is out, banks stop issuing the old notes. And once a customer brings the old notes for banking, the notes would be detained for shredding at the central bank. This helped to eliminate the old bank notes within a short time.

Now, on November 23, 2021, Reserve Bank of Malawi Governor, Wilson Banda, announced the introduction of the K5000 bank note and an improved K2000 note through a presser in Lilongwe.

True to Banda’s words, the new MK 5000 and improved K2000 bank notes were in circulation by 24th February, 2022.

The central bank spent K2.8 billion on the introduction of the new K5000 banknote and the improved K2000 note.

And in any serious economies, the old K2000 notes would have stopped being circulated on the market by banks by now, seven months down the line.

But as careless as the Lazarus Chakwera administration is, banks continue to issue the old bank notes up to this very day.

Ironically, if you withdraw K100, 000 either through the bank teller or ATM, over K70, 000 are the old bank notes.

This mess has turned Malawi into a laughing stock in this Sadc region as it is the only country that is using two different bank notes of the same denomination.

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