BSP plant capable of printing more than 1B money bills at any given time

MANILA, July 30 (PNA) - The Security Printing Plant complex of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Quezon City is perfectly capable of meeting the printing and minting requirements of the economy no matter that it sometimes resorts to outsourcing a portion of the demand to foreign entities like De La Rue PLC.

Deputy BSP governor Armando L. Suratos, who supervises the operations of the SPP, said in an interview on Tuesday that outsourcing is “more the exception than the rule” at the central bank.

There were reports that De La Rue, one of several foreign firms the BSP taps for purposes of printing money bills or the supply of security paper had to shut down its operations due to certain quality specification issues the British firm failed to meet.

Suratos said reports that BSP outsourced some 47 percent of its printing requirement to foreign entities like De La Rue would be affected by the shutdown have been exaggerated.

He would not cite a number as to the magnitude or volume of work the BSP would allow foreign entities to do on its behalf, saying the 47 percent outsourced volume cited by a foreign news magazine was “very high.”

“Outsourcing is an exemption. We print money bills and mint coins at our security printing plant in Quezon City as our plant capacity is adequate for our requirements,” Suratos said.

“We do not normally outsource our (money bills) printing requirements but we do need to import finished security paper for our bank notes,” he said.

Suratos said the SPP is perfectly capable of printing “more than one billion pieces” in money bills at any given time and would not say more.

He gave assurance the new money series that starts rolling off the SPP presses in late November this year was on track for release and circulation around Christmas no matter the present misfortunes at De La Rue.

These pertain to new money designs paying tribute to local flora and fauna, the country’s heroes and the many natural wonders that abound the country.

The original color scheme for each denomination had been retained to avoid confusion especially at the initial stage of its introduction, Suratos said. (PNA)
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