New-design currency notes to have enhanced security features, Senate panel told

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue was informed on Wednesday that new-design currency notes with enhanced security features have been finalized by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and forwarded to the federal cabinet for approval.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwala to review issues related to senior appointments in regulatory bodies, financial privacy concerns, budgetary allocations, and the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of the Ministry of Finance.

SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad briefed the committee that the new banknotes had been vetted by the SBP Board and designed to curb counterfeit currency. He said the designs had been sent to the cabinet for approval, adding that the central bank would move to printing once approval was granted.

The chairman welcomed the progress, recalling the committee’s long-standing recommendation to modernize currency notes and strengthen security features.

Earlier, the SBP had said it would begin printing new-design notes of two to three denominations simultaneously after cabinet approval, with the notes to be introduced into circulation in phases once minimum stock levels were achieved.

The SBP decided to keep its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 10.5% in its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of 2026. SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad announced the decision in a press conference.

“The new-design notes will come into circulation as soon as the central bank achieves the minimum stock of the new notes that will replace the notes in circulation at present [in phase mannered],“ Ahmad said.

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He, however, refused to disclose which domination notes would come first in the circulation. At present, the different denomination notes in circulation are of Rs10, Rs20, Rs50, Rs75, Rs100, Rs500, Rs1,000 and Rs5,000.

“We have sent the new-designs to the government for its approval. Later on, the government sent the designs to the Cabinet for its approval,” he said.