Questioned banknotes, possible political way out | Billetes dudosos, posible salida política

By Erbol:

President of the BCB rules out legalizing the stolen banknotes, but hints that perhaps Parliament could

Espinoza delivered his report before the Senate.

In a report to the Senate, the president of the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), David Espinoza, ruled out that the issuing entity will validate the circulation of the banknotes stolen after last week’s air accident in El Alto. However, he clarified that this should be reflected upon and that perhaps it could be done through Parliament.

“With all sincerity, and also that of the Bank’s board of directors, we cannot legalize robberies, we cannot legalize something that is illegal,” he told the legislators.

Several sectors of social organizations and even parliamentarians suggested legalizing the damaged banknotes, given the complications that have arisen in the market from having to check each banknote of Series B through applications. In this context, there have been reports of cases in which people are not accepting all banknotes in the 10, 20 and 50 boliviano denominations from Series B.

Espinoza clarified that validating the questioned banknotes “could be a circumstance that helps so that the entire Series B begins to circulate, but that should be a reflection among all of us.”

He stressed that the BCB, within its powers, could not carry out this validation, but that perhaps other instances such as Parliament could.

“Other instances may perhaps be able to do it, perhaps in these parliamentary bodies,” he told the senators.

The president of the BCB also ruled out annulling the entire Series B of banknotes in the 10, 20 and 50 boliviano denominations, due to the million-dollar cost involved in acquiring the material that is already in circulation and in the BCB’s vaults.

He also said that the entire Series B cannot be annulled because bringing a new series would take at least a year and a half.

He emphasized that at the time of the accident the banknotes still belonged to the supplier company and that, within that framework, the BCB even went beyond its responsibilities to address the situation.

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