Central Bank governor Alvin Hilaire has been asked to reveal the cost of acquiring new $100 polymer bills.
The question was raised on Sunday by Opposition senator, Wade Mark, during the UNC media briefing after the bank recently announced that a new $100 bank note, similar to the current one, will be released.
Mark said the Central Bank needs to be transparent and reveal the total cost of purchasing and acquiring a new $100 polymer bank note set to enter circulation by the end of the year.
He said bank notes were changed just five years ago with long queues of people trying to change old bills.
“They say (the polymer bills) were security proof. Nobody could counterfeit that polymer. That is what we were told by the governor and the government.
“Everybody thought (they) had it right. Only to be told, a new (bill) is coming in December 2024.”
Mark said the transition cost Trinidad and Tobago $78 million.
“The Central Bank is a lodge. They living in secrecy, so they don’t want to tell Trinidad and Tobago what the new $100 banknote will cost us…Why must we accept that kind of incompetence?”