The Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe plans to put new banknotes and coins into circulation on 1 January, 2018 with three fewer zeros, as part of a monetary reform, Governor Hélio Almeida said on Tuesday.

The official launch of the new fiduciary issue will take place on 25 August, in a public ceremony with the presence of sovereign bodies, but the new notes and coins will only go into general circulation on the first day of 2018.

The governor, quoted by Portuguese news agency Lusa, said a decision had been made to move forward this year with the new issue because “the conditions of macroeconomic stability and nominal convergence of the main variables that guide the functioning of the economy have been met.”

The bank will put six denominations of banknotes and five denominations of coins into commercial circulation and in the next four months campaigns will be made to raise awareness and clarify citizens about the changes.

The money currently in circulation in São Tomé and Príncipe consists of 100,000, 50,000, 20,000, 10,000 and five thousand dobra notes, and 2,000, 1,000, 500, 200 and 100 dobra coins. (macauhub)