The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a press release dated 10 January 2013 encouraging the public to use what it calls “good as new” 2-dollar notes for the coming Lunar New Year’s “hong bao,” which is the tradition of giving clean notes as gifts. In the past, MAS would print and issue an additional 50 million notes to meet the temporary demand for uncirculated notes, but this was much more than the economy actually needed to function. By encouraging the public to accept these “good as new” recirculated notes, MAS hopes to cut its production costs and is marketing the effort as good for the environment.
Courtesy of David Surette.