(Business in Cameroon) - Starting June 1, 2024, banknotes from the 1992 series will no longer be exchangeable at the counters of the Central Bank of Central African States (Beac). Yvon Sana Bangui, the governor of Beac, urged holders of these banknotes to exchange them at Beac counters before the deadline.

The 1992 banknotes have been demonetized and deprived of legal tender and purchasing power across the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (Cemac) territory since March 1, 2023. This was in line with a resolution from the ministerial committee meeting of the Central African Monetary Union (Umac) signed on November 7, 2022.

Holders of these banknotes had until May 31, 2023, to exchange them at commercial bank counters in the Cemac zone and at Beac services. Starting June 1, 2023, these banknotes were only exchangeable at the central bank's services, which will cease to accept them from June 1, 2024. Consequently, these banknotes will hold no value in the hands of their holders.

Only banknotes from the 2002 and 2020 series will now be valid. The 2020 series has been in circulation since December 15, 2022. Since January 2, 2024, Beac has also initiated the progressive withdrawal of banknotes from the 2002 series from circulation.

To ensure the effectiveness of this measure, the operations director of Beac, Jean Clary Otoumou, has provided precise instructions to the central bank's national directors in a circular signed on January 5, 2024. He directed national directors to only "issue banknotes from the 2020 series for withdrawals by banks and public accountants starting January 2, 2024; identify and control 5,000, 2,000, 1,000, and 500 FCFA banknotes from the 2002 series, then transfer them to the destruction vault after perforation; conduct quality sorting of 10,000 FCFA banknotes from the 2002 series received from bank deposits and public accountants, then transfer them to dedicated vaults (reserve vault and destruction vault)."

However, banknotes from the 2002 series will still be used by economic agents until a decision is made to demonetize them, which could take several years. For instance, banknotes from the 1992 series will officially hold no value starting June 1, 2024, more than 20 years after their replacement by the 2002 series.