No, the South African Reserve Bank Has No Intention of Introducing R500 Banknotes and R10 Coins

• A Twitter account has made the claim that a R500 banknote and R10 coin are in the works for South Africa
• The social media account has been labelled as fake by the South African Reserve Bank, which indicated that Mzansi does not need a R500 banknote yet
• Some South Africans believe that the country will need a higher denomination currency soon because the inflation rate keeps rising

A social media account that appears to be an official page of the South African Reserve Bank recently made the claim that South Africans should brace themselves for the introduction of a R500 banknote and R10 coin.

The highest value of banknotes in South Africa is currently R200 and the highest value of coins is R5.

The Twitter account that goes by the handle @ReservebankSA posted two samples of the R500 note and the caption read:

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"We introduce to you the first sample of our new possible the five hundred note. #BetterEconomy"

Is the Reserve Bank introducing a R500 bank note? We checked

The official account of the South African Reserve Bank issued a short statement indicating that it is aware of the Twitter account that is impersonating the financial institution.

The post also explained that the reserve bank has no plans of introducing a R500 banknote or a R10 coin. The Reserve Bank also stated that the account spreading the news about the banknote and coin has been reported to Twitter.

The Reserve Bank's post reads:

"Please note that this is a fake account and has been reported to Twitter. SA Reserve Bank is not planning to issue a R10 coin nor a R500 note."

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After further inspection, Briefly News found that the Reserve Bank successfully reported that fake Twitter account and it has since been taken off the platform.

Is South Africa ready for a R500 banknote and R10?

The South African Reserve Bank explained that it is always looking into introducing a higher denomination currency, however, at the moment, that will not be happening anytime soon.

The financial institution stipulated that a R500 banknote would be on cards if the highest banknote in circulation was the R200 note. It explained that the R100 banknote is actually in circulation more than the R200 banknote at the moment, according to BusinessTech. This means in general, people use R100 banknotes more than they use R200 banknotes.

The reserve bank also indicated that there is no need for a R500 banknote at this moment because the R200 note is being used as a store value and has little chance of detoriating in value in future. Should it deteriorate in value, there might be consideration for the R500 banknote.

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In terms of the R10 coin, the Reserve Bank said that is also not in the cards because the South African public has no desire for it.

South Africans react

Some South Africans believe that the introduction of a R500 note is inevitable because things are getting pricier by the day, while others do not want the rand to be devalued.

Here are some comments:

@prodicalmonama said:

"Even if so, with how out of control inflation is, R500 notes will be created sooner or later. Remember that in SA we once had R2 and R5 notes at some point and today they are only coins, why? Inflation that is partly caused by the printing of money and weak economic policies."

@zanynkosi said:

"Probably a guy trying to score a design gig here"

@Pharaoh_DeHloni said:

"NO!! This devaluation of our currency needs to stop."

@SiyaMiti_the1st said:

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"I was wondering how a R500 note can be linked with #Bettereconomy"

No, Nigerian smugglers are not the reason SA IDs are not considered secure, terrorists are

In other news, Briefly News previously reported that a social media account that seemingly has ties to Operation Dudula, an organisation that has been campaigning for the illegal immigrants to leave Mzansi has made the claim that South African identification documents are being subjected to scrutiny which in turn affects the ability of South Africans to travel internationally.

The account which has more than 19 000 followers, claimed that Nigerian smugglers have been caught using South Africa's system to get visas and that is why South African IDs are no longer secure. The account also stated that the information presented can be verified by a Google search.

The post read:

“Our South African IDs are no longer considered secure by visa-issuing authorities across the world due to many reports of Nigerians smugglers being arrested having used the RSA system to get that visa.”

Source: Briefly News