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A few weeks after the Ethiopian government introduced new banknotes to combat organized crime, the police seized counterfeit banknotes from the new coins circulating in the city of Bahir Dar in the Amhara region.
The two individuals captured in the city of Bahir Dar with 200 and 100 counterfeit Ethiopian Birr notes are arrested after a court found them guilty, according to the Amhara Media Agency. The report did not mention the source of the counterfeits, whether they were printed locally or smuggled into the country. The Ethiopian government has reportedly spent some 3.7 billion Birr (about $ 101 million) to print the new coins, which accumulate a total value of about 280 billion Birr.
The distribution of counterfeit coins alongside the new banknotes before the country even completes the circulation of the new banknotes is believed to have a severe impact on the economy by contributing to high inflation and organized crime such as money laundering, which forced Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration to replace the old banknotes with new ones a few weeks ago.
A few weeks ago, Ethiopia changed its banknotes by introducing the larger 200 Birr banknote for the first time. If one is found deliberately circulating counterfeit coins, he could face up to 15 years in prison along with other penalties, such as losing all his wealth, under Ethiopian criminal law.
