The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) addressed the recent issue of half-printed banknotes on Wednesday, asserting enhancements to internal controls despite acknowledging the system’s inherent margin for error.
The SBP’s statement followed reports from a National Bank branch in Karachi, which received several Rs1,000 currency notes printed on only one side.
A video from the branch showed a manager displaying the defective Rs1,000 notes supplied by the SBP, revealing that “one side of the notes is printed, and the other is completely blank.” The anomaly was discovered after a customer returned these misprinted notes, prompting a review of the new currency bundles.
In its clarification, the central bank admitted to occasional misprinting incidents, usually caught by existing checks and balances. It conceded that even the most advanced systems can fail, emphasizing that the issue involved merely ten such notes in a batch sent to the Model Colony Branch of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), a figure deemed insignificant compared to the volume of currency circulated nationwide.
Nevertheless, the SBP has committed to reinforcing its internal controls to prevent future occurrences of similar printing errors.