The Central Bank of Kuwait has decided to withdraw all old Kuwaiti banknotes, the fifth issuance, from trading by October 1st, the CBK Governor Dr. Mohammad Al-Hashel announced on Sunday.

The CBK board, with consent of the Minister of Finance, has taken the decision to withdraw the fifth issuance of the Kuwaiti currencies.

Al-Hashel, in a statement to KUNA on Sunday, said the remaining volume of these old banknotes constituted only seven percent of the original amount that had existed before the sixth issuance on June 29, 2014, estimated at KD 1,400 million.

The decision has been taken in line with Article 10 of the Law 32/1968, as well as its amendments, regulating the banknotes' withdrawal and banking, the CBK governor said, indicating that the old notes must be all out of the trading during the banks' work hours on Thursday, October 1st.

Holders of the old notes must exchange them for the new editions at local banks ahead of the abovementioned date, he said, warning that those to be retained would lose their value "as legal banknote," thus would no longer be tradable.

Nevertheless, those who may fail to exchange the old ones for the new banknotes, as scheduled, may do so, solely, at the CBK funds, within 10 years' time, but after this period of time it would no longer be possible to make the exchange.

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