QCOSTARICA – The ¢10,000 bills printed on cotton paper will go out of circulation as of October 1, giving way to the new polymer bill already in circulation, the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) – Central Bank – announced on Thursday.
On October 1, the cotton paper notes will lose their legal tender as a means of payment but will retain their monetary value. In other words, they cannot be used at say a supermarket to pay for groceries or a gasoline station to fill the tank, but they can be exchanged for a new bill or deposited at any bank.
The old bills, once out of circulation, can also be exchanged at the Banco Central main offices in downtown San Jose and at the San Isidro de El General, Ciudad Neily, Nicoya, Cañas and Ciudad Quesada branches.
The new ¢10,000 bills were put into circulation since last October.
With the withdrawal of the ¢10,000, Costa Rica will have completed in changing over its bills to polymer, a material similar to plastic but recyclable, in addition, to more security measures.
In the past year or so, all the other bills, namely, ¢1,000, ¢2,000, ¢5,000, and ¢20,000, were switched over.
It is important to note that the old cotton paper bills, which will soon include the ¢10,000, never lose their value. Though they cannot be used to make payments, they can be exchanged for new bills at the Central Bank.
