HCM City's banks have started to collect VND10,000 (USD0.48) and VND20,000 cotton banknotes to exchange them for plastic notes.
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| VND10,000 and VND20,000 cotton banknotes |
The local authorities also asked the Department of Information and Communication to co-operate with districts and ward authorities to inform the public.
On September 28 the State Bank of Vietnam announced that they would start collecting the older cotton VND10,000 and VND20,000 notes beginning January 1, 2013, as those two notes will be taken out of circulation.
People will be able to bring their old notes to their nearest SBV's branch, credit facilities or State treasury exchanges for new polymer notes.
SBV had stopped issuing the cotton banknotes and recovered them via banks and treasury to limit their presence in the market. Some commercial centres have refused to accept the cotton banknotes and many people have thought that the notes were taken out of circulation for years.
"I haven't accepted cotton banknote from customers in a long time." Ly, a trader in Ngoc Khanh Market, Hanoi said.
After the SBV announced the decision, the old notes suddenly gained more value, especially the old cotton VND10,000. The note with red colour was often used as lucky money during Tet.
The old cotton VND10,000 has been offered on the internet for anywhere between VND20-50,000. Some VND10,000 notes have higher prices with 'lucky' serial numbers.
