Barbados calms public fears over 'counterfeit' banknotes

The Central Bank of Barbados on Monday was forced to issue a statement saying banknotes dated 2007 but bearing the signature of the current governor are genuine after concerned members of the public contacted the institution.

Governor DeLisle Worrell was appointed in November 2009, causing confusion among members of the public when banknotes dated 2007 bore his signature.

The central bank said that in response to "several" queries, they wanted to explain that, "the date on notes simply connotes when they were last upgraded and in no way refers to the governor of the day".

The notes in question had an issue date of May 1, 2007.

The central bank also took the opportunity to remind the public that they should be "watchful" while carrying out cash transactions during the festive period.

"Traditionally counterfeit notes tend to increase during periods of heightened commercial activity and therefore persons should be more vigilant and check on the genuine nature of the notes before concluding transactions," said the statement.

The banknotes issued by Barbados in 2007 have several security features. There are small images on the right of the map of Barbados watermark. On $2, $5 and $10 notes, the image is of the broken trident, while on $20, $50 and $100 notes, the image is of the Pride of Barbados flower.

Security threads are used in all the notes and the numeral on the top left corner of the note is significantly raised above the surface of the paper, giving the paper a distinctive feel. The raised surface of the numeral will also allow different denominations to be more easily identified by the visually impaired.

Making use of fluorescent inks on the $20, $50 and $100 notes, the Coat of Arms and the waves near the flying fish in the centre of the banknotes show up as fluorescent green and yellow under ultra-violet light.