Kasama does away with old Kwacha note

Kasama does  away with old Kwacha note

Kasama/28/June/2013— With barely two days to go before the old Kwacha notes cease to be used for the purchase of goods, some traders in Kasama have stopped transacting in the old currency.

 

And some traders in the shopping outlets say that they do not want lose business hours by lining up in commercial banks to exchange the old currency with the new Kwacha notes at the expense of selling their merchandise.

 

This came to light in a survey conducted by ZANIS in the central business centre of the town and some selected markets.

 

At Chikumanino Market, traders interviewed said they were no longer accepting the old Kwacha notes from customers wishing to buy their merchandise.

 

The traders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that they have stopped transacting in the old currency because the currency would cease to legal tender on 30^th June, this year.

 

They said they feared to lose their money as the business of trading in both the old and new currency was confusion to traders and customers alike.

 

And some traders in the shopping outlets say that they do not want lose business hours by lining up in commercial banks to exchange the old currency with the new Kwacha notes at the expense of selling their merchandise.

 

They claimed that the move to reject the old Kwacha notes was one way of forcing some people who were keeping the old currency to exchange it with the new banknotes in circulation.

 

The transaction in both the old and new currency is coming to an end on 30^thJune, 2013 after which all goods and services would be transacted in the rebased currency.

 

However, the process of exchanging the old kwacha notes would continue although it would now be conducted at various Commercial banks in the country up until 31^stJuly, 2013.

 

Thereafter, the Bank of Zambia will continue receiving old Kwacha notes at its branches in Lusaka and Ndola up to 31^st December, this year when the old currency would completely cease to be legal tender on the domestic market.