New currency notes gets 1 million Ethiopians into banking systemShare this article: Share Tweet Share Share Share Email ShareINTERNATIONAL - Ethiopia’s effort to stamp out counterfeiting by introducing new currency notes is pulling people who’ve never had a bank account into the financial system. Over the past four weeks, almost 1 million previously unbanked Ethiopians have handed in their two-decade-old banknotes, according to the central bank. “On the first day of the new currency notes, you wouldn’t believe what happened here -- everybody came,” said Nebyou Birhanu, who heads digital services at CBE. While Kenya’s demonetization process that started last year went smoothly, the equivalent of about $68 million was not returned, according to the central bank. The central bank is preparing to allow non-financial institutions to offer mobile-money services, opening up banking to local phone companies.

Source: Ethiopian News October 19, 2020 13:31 UTC