According to various news reports, on 19 October 2011 the Central Bank of South Sudan issued new notes in the denominations of 5, 10, 25, and 50 piasters. These low-value notes will make it possible to purchase smaller items that cost less than a pound (1 South Sudan pound = 100 piasters), said Governor Kornelio Koriom. The new piaster notes are reportedly printed by De La Rue, which also produced the pound-denominated notes introduced on 18 July 2011.

Curiously, the currency is spelled piaster, not piastre, and the signatures remain the same as on the pound-denominated notes, even though the governor was replaced shortly after their introduction, which means these notes must have been planned well before his removal. To differentiate the designs from the higher denominations, the piaster notes have the portrait at right instead of left, and they do not have windowed security threads.


Courtesy of Banknote News

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South Sudan public complains of lack of dates on new banknotes

According to articles in Al Bawaba and Sudan Tribune, members of the public in South Sudan are complaining that the new series of banknotes issued on 18 July 2011 lack printed dates, as have all notes previously issued by Sudan. Apparently the people are unaware that many countries routinely issue notes without dates

Courtesy of Banknotenews.com

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South Sudan New Pound issued July 18, 2011

According to an Al Jazeera article dated 11 July 2011 as well as a BBC article dated 11 July 2011, South Sudan—which just gained its independence on 9 July—will introduce its own currency next week. The South Sudan pound notes feature a portrait of rebel leader John Garang on the front, while the backs contain images of the country's culture and wealth. Finance Minister David Deng Athorbei said plane-loads of the South Sudan pound would arrive in the capital, Juba, on 13 July and would be in circulation by 18 July. The new notes, printed by De La Rue, will be exchanged at par for the existing Sudanese pounds. The Bank of South Sudan will issue six denominations – 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 pound – and the notes are signed by Elijah Malok as “Governor” even though he has not been officially appointed to the position.

Meanwhile, Sudan has announced that it will issue new notes of its own. The Central Bank of Sudan issued a new series of pound-denominated notes just four years ago.
Courtesy of Banknote News

Questions

1. What do you think of the design of the new Banknotes?

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South Sudan Currency Update

The government of South Sudan has ordered the printing of currency, to be released to circulation July 9.

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More info on New South Sudan Pound

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Southern Sudan plans to release its own currency when it declares independence in July as the region establishes a financial system to manage its oil wealth.

Called the South Sudan pound, the value of the currency will be controlled in a “managed float” by the Bank of Southern Sudan, which will serve as the central bank of the independent nation, its director general, Othom Rago Ajak, said in an interview.

“We have not decided how many pounds to the dollar,” Finance Minister David Deng Athorbei told reporters yesterday in Juba, Southern Sudan

A European company is printing the currency, he said, without naming it. “We are still maintaining some secrecy because we are still not yet an independent country.”ʼs current oil production of 490,000 barrels a day, pumped mainly by China National Petroleum Corp., Malaysiaʼs Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and Indiaʼs Oil & Natural Gas Corp.ʼs capital, are also planning to issue a new currency.ʼs National Congress Party, said by phone today from Khartoum. “If the south prints a new currency, this means the north has to change its currency as well.”

The printer of the South Sudan pound will release the new notes once either the U.S. or the U.K. recognizes Southern Sudan as an independent nation,

Athorbei said. Almost 99 percent of Southern Sudanese voters chose to secede from the north and form an independent country in a January referendum.

At independence, Southern Sudan will assume control of about three-quarters of Sudan

The two regions currently split revenue from sales of oil pumped in the south. Southern Sudan receives its share in either dollars or euros, Ajak said on March 26.

Old Currency

Still unsettled is the issue of what to do with the old Sudanese pounds that Sudan has been using since the north and the south signed a peace agreement

in 2005 that ended a two- decade civil war. The authorities in Khartoum, Sudan

“There are still discussions on how to get rid of this currency when the south gets its new currency,” Rabie Abdel Ati, a senior member of President Umar al-Bashir

 ʼs minister of culture and a member of the committee negotiating financial issues with the north, said during a March 27 interview in Juba.

Southern Sudan wants the north to buy back the old pounds, Ajak said.

The authorities in Khartoum have proposed either destroying the old notes in Southern Sudan or transporting them back to the north, Gabriel Changson

Chang, the south

ʼs capital.

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South Sudan to Issue New Banknotes

The Council of Ministers has decided on March 22 in an extraordinary meeting that the official name of the country will be Republic of South Sudan, and that its currency will be called South Sudan pound. The transition from the Sudanese pound to the new currency will be negotiated with the Sudanese government in Khartoum.

Courtesy of MRI Guide

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