BANGKOK, July 3- The Bank of Thailand (BoT) on Tuesday introduced a Bt80 commemorative banknote to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s 80th birthday anniversary and a Bt100 commemorative banknote to mark His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn’s 5th Cycle Birthday.
BoT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul announced that the commemorative banknotes were to pay tribute to the Queen and the Crown Prince for their incomparable contributions to the country.
The BoT will issue 2,000,000 commemorative banknotes to mark Queen Sirikit’s 80th birthday, which falls on Aug 12.
Mr Prasarn explained that the special features incorporated in the banknote honouring The Queen are its 80mm width representing 80 years of age and the colour blue to mark the Queen’s birthday on Friday. The front of the banknote is a portrait of Their Majesties the King and Queen. The watermark features HM the Queen’s crowned monogram “ส.ก.”. With a special translucent effect, the electrotype letter “ก” is clearly visible from both sides when the banknote is held up to light.
Meanwhile, a ‘windowed’ security thread is seen on the paper’s surface at regular intervals. Each window contains the number ‘80’ and a rose, which changes when the banknote is tilted.
Encased in a hard-paper presentation cover, each Bt80 commemorative banknote is sold at Bt120 and will be available from Aug 9 onwards at all commercial bank branches, the Government Savings Bank, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, the Government Housing Bank, and the Islamic Bank of Thailand.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale will be presented to the Queen for royal charity purposes, the BoT governor added.
In addition to the Bt80 commemorative banknote marking the Queen’s 80th birthday, the central bank will issue 10 million Bt100 banknotes to commemorate the Crown Prince’s 5th cycle birthday on July 28.
The banknotes marking the auspicious occasion are to be put into circulation on July 27.
Mr Prasarn said that the image at the face of the banknote is identical to the 15th series of the Bt100 banknote now in circulation. The special design depicting the portrait of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and the scene of His Royal Highness being conferred the title of Crown Prince is illustrated on the reverse of the banknote.
This is the first time in Thailand’s banknote operations that the BoT will produce and print an Bt80 banknote, Mr Prasarn said. A number of the Bt80 commemorative banknotes is expected to meet the demand of the public.
