New-design currency notes: printing process at ‘advanced stage’, says SBP chief

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on Monday it would start printing new-design currency notes of two to three different denominations as soon as the Cabinet approved the new designs.

“The process of printing new-design banknotes is on advanced stage. We will soon start the printing, subject to approval from the Cabinet. We will print two to three currency notes of different denomination simultaneously,” SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad said while responding a question at a press conference to announce the latest monetary policy for the next six weeks.

The SBP decided to keep its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 10.5% in its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of 2026. SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad announced the decision in a press conference.

“The new-design notes will come in circulation as soon as the central bank achieves the minimum stock of the new notes that will replace the notes in circulation at present [in phase mannered],“ Ahmad said.

Also read: New currency notes to enter circulation in 2025, confirms SBP governor

He, however, refused to disclose which domination notes would come first in the circulation. At present, the different denomination notes in circulation are of Rs10, Rs20, Rs50, Rs75, Rs100, Rs500, Rs1,000 and Rs5,000.

“We have sent the new-designs to the government for its approval. Later on, the government sent the designs to the Cabinet for its approval,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a statement said the federal cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, had reviewed proposals for redesigning Pakistan’s currency notes and constituted a cabinet committee to examine the matter in detail.

The cabinet meeting was informed that the currency notes were being redesigned in line with modern requirements and that international experts had been engaged for the purpose.

In March 2025, the Security Papers Limited (SPL) in a press statement said it had awarded a paper machine upgrade project worth Rs3.4 billion to a German firm Giesecke+Devrient (G+D).

“The estimated cost of the project is Rs3.4 billion, which includes an international tender worth Euro 8.297 million awarded to Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), Germany٫” SPL said then. “The upgrade is expected to be completed within 18 months.”

In September 2024, the SBP announced the winners of its competition for the designs of the new banknote series. The central bank had initiated the process for designing and issuing of new banknotes series of all existing denominations in January, 2024. It announced an art competition in March 2024 to have innovative and thematic design ideas for the series of new currency notes.