The State Bank of Pakistan is considering discontinuing the Rs10 note because of its rising production cost, Deputy Governor Dr Inayat Hussain told the Senate Standing Committee on Finance (Geo News).
He said the SBP had twice previously attempted to discontinue the denomination, and that it would be abolished when the new currency notes are introduced.
The new series
The existing currency series has been in circulation since printing began in 2005 — more than two decades.
New notes with enhanced security features are planned. The matter has been discussed twice by the federal cabinet, which formed a committee that introduced changes to the designs. Committee chairman Senator Saleem Mandviwalla was briefed alongside the rest of the panel.
Why a note gets retired
A banknote is withdrawn when it costs more to print, distribute and replace than the transactions it enables are worth.
That threshold moves with inflation rather than with any decision. The Rs10 note has been in circulation since 2005; petrol then cost roughly Rs40 a litre. It now costs Rs341.98. A note that once bought a quarter of a litre of fuel now buys about three per cent of one.
The proposal is therefore less a monetary policy choice than an acknowledgement of what two decades have done to the currency — which is why the attempt has been made twice before and will succeed on the third occasion for reasons that have nothing to do with the note itself.
What it means in practice
Coins in the same denomination would ordinarily carry the load, being more durable and cheaper over their life.
No date has been announced for the new series, and no decision has been formally taken.
