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Section 22.-(1) of the Central Bank of Belize Act gives the Central Bank the sole right to issue notes and coins in Belize. Therefore, only such notes and coins issued by the Central Bank shall be legal tender in Belize.
The Bank is obligated to protecting the integrity of the Belize currency notes and is thus committed to continuous review and enhancement of the design and security features so that they remain strong and secure against counterfeiting threats, particularly, changing technologies. The notes are designed so that they are difficult to reproduce and at the same time, allow the public to readily distinguish between genuine and counterfeit notes.
Section 62 of the Central Bank of Belize Act empowers the Bank to issue those notes and coins issued under the Monetary Authority of Belize. “The Monetary Authority of Belize” notes, therefore are the liability of the Central Bank of Belize and are legal tender. On 1st January 1981, the Monetary Authority of Belize demonetized all those notes issued under the Currency Ordinance 1965 by the Board of Commissioners of Currency. “The Government of British Honduras” notes and “The Government of Belize” notes, therefore are not legal tender and are redeemable only at the Central Bank of Belize.
While the first Belize currency notes under the Central Bank of Belize were issued in 1983, they maintained the design of those notes issued under the Monetary Authority. In May 1990, however, the Central Bank of Belize put into circulation a new family of Belize currency notes. This family, captured the rich variety of Belizean wildlife, national culture and historic sites and highlighted some of the rare and endangered species of the birds and animals of Belize.
Since then, this family has twice been upgraded to enhance its security; in 1998 and in this year, 2003. The main enhancements on the 1998 upgrade included two different sizes (one size for the $100 and $50 and another for the lower denominations), two different watermarks; the Jaguar and the Sleeping Giant, a hologram on the $100 denomination, a foil feature on the $50 denominations and a stardust windowed security thread on all denominations. The 2003 upgrade consisted of an intaglio overprint (the periwinkle flower) on the hologram on the $100 denomination only, a wider security thread and the denominational value (under the watermark) incorporated in the notepaper of all denominations. |
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