Sierra Leone to redenominate currency

[eurocoin]

The Governor of the Central Bank of Sierra Leone has recently issued a circular which mentions that Sierra Leone is going to slash 3 zeroes from its currency. New banknotes are expected to be released before the end of this year. It is not yet known when the new coins will be released. The old and new coins and banknotes will temporarily circulate alongside eachother.

The new coins will have denominations of: 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents and 50 cents.
The new banknotes will have denominations of: 1 leone, 2 leone, 5 leone, 10 leone and 20 leone.

[Pabitra]

Sierra Leone is member of WAMA, which is to launch "Eco" as common currency soon (?) but perhaps it decided not to wait for it.

[eurocoin]

Sierra Leone is member of WAMA, which is to launch "Eco" as common currency soon (?) but perhaps it decided not to wait for it.

The introduction of the Eco currency by the ECOWAS was postponed until 2027.

[Jostein]

The higher banknote will be around 2 euro...in my opinion, with this proposed coins and notes denominations, there is more sense to redenominate 10,000 = 1 than 1,000 = 1.

Jostein.

[malawi]

any news about  the design of the new coins and banknotes?

the banknotes have a new design?

[eurocoin]

No further information is currently available.

[Big_M]

For completeness link to the source (also web-archived):

https://www.bsl.gov.sl/Public%20Notice%20on%20Redenomination.pdf

[Pabitra]

See

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03zTFckuoMA

And

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0z6aJUL0cPk

[eurocoin]

I have just obtained further information about the new coin series of Sierra Leone. The coins will each depict a different Sierra Leonean musician, with on the other side a depiction of a musical instrument they typically used. None of them are still alive. The banknotes will not be redesigned, only the 3 zeroes will be omitted. A banknote of 20 leones will be introduced. Circulation of the new currency will begin in 2022.

The coin designs will be as follows:

1 cent: The obverse will depict a portrait of singer Sullay Abu Bakarr. On the reverse, the coin will depict a microphone. (For the fans).

5 cents: The obverse will depict a portrait of Israel Olurunfeh Cole (aka Dr. Oloh). On the reverse, the coin will depict a drum.

10 cents: The obverse will depict a portrait of Sulaiman Ernest Rogers (aka S.E. Rogie). On the reverse, the coin will depict a guitar.

25 cents: The obverse will depict a portrait of Bassie Sorie Kondi. On the reverse, the coin will depict a kondi musical instrument.

50 cents: The obverse will depict a portrait of Salia Koroma. On the reverse, the coin will depict an accordion.

[<k>]

At long last! Sounds like an interesting set of designs.

[CannedMeat]

I find it interesting that they are switching from a 20 Cent coin (albeit back in 1984) to a 25 Cent coin. My impression is that the trend has been toward 20 Cent over 25 Cent.

(Listing those transitions would be an interesting study, but one I don't have time for.)

[eurocoin]

Yes, it certainly seems like a really interesting series, even despite of the inclusion of portraits on one side. The concept of putting musicians on a circulation coin series along with their musical instruments is quite creative. The other things, I am really wondering about are: Who is going to mint this new series? And who is going to design it? Will Royal Dutch Mint again be developing a circulating coin series for Sierra Leone, or has The Royal Mint regained the country? Furthermore the information that I have includes no details about shapes or alloys of the new coins. It only mentions their diameters, which are not really interesting.

[Big_M]

The legislation, which appears to have become law on 14 December 2021, also provided the coin diameters.

The information about the designs for the banknotes is also included.

Sources (both pages web-archived):
https://snradio.net/statutory-instrument-redenomination-of-the-leone-regulations-2021/
https://sierraloaded.sl/news/parliament-passes-the-redenomination-leones-into-law/

[eurocoin]

The Central Bank of Sierra Leone has recently launched a special section on its website about the redenomination. It has also already released images of the new banknotes. The document with Frequently Asked Questions makes no mention of the 25 cents denomination coin. The website also only mentions that there will be a new denomination of 20 leones, which will be a banknote. The new denomination of 25 cents is not mentioned. Possibly a mistake, but much rather it seems that they have changed their mind and that the 25 cents coin will not be released.

[Big_M]

The new redenominated currency will have the ISO code SLE. The code is valid starting 1 April 2022. I still find no news regarding the actual start for the process.

ISO certification document (also web-archived)