MALAWI:Fake money on the market

Three traders in Lilongwe have said they are being given fake K500
notes, especially at night and this is drawing back their businesses.

Byson Maganga, who owns a grocery in Kawale Township, said he has been
hearing about fake money recently but did not imagine it could happen
to him.

One morning I was buying milk and realised that one K500 note looked
different from the rest. I checked and found that it was a fake. My
colleagues have also been duped in a similar manner, he said.

Maganga said small businesses like his cannot survive in an environment where there is fake money.

Obviously, whoever gave me a fake K500 bought items and I gave back
some change—genuine money. I have lost my item as well as money,it is a
double loss for me, he said.

Maganga provided a fake K500 note to Weekend Nation which just looks
like the original one except that it is too light and lacks the texture
of the original. Almost all the features and colour are the same.

But there is no water mark of John Chilembwe which can be seen on the
left hand side of the genuine note. It also lacks the silver lining
inside which is seen on the note when put against light or the sun. The
paper used for the fake money is very soft compared to the one used for
genuine money.

Economics Association of Malawi (Ecam) president Charles Mataya said
fake money was the least thing anyone would want in an economy.

Mataya said fake currency creates an unnecessary pressure on the
market, adding that government, Police and the Reserve Bank of Malawi
(RBM) should move in quickly to solve the problem.

By the time we went to print yesterday RBM public relations officer
Samuel Malitoni had not responded to our questionnaire, seeking RBM's
comment on the matter. However, the Bankers Association of Malawi (Bam)
executive director Fanuel Kumdana said his organisation had trust that
the central bank will solve the problem.

Kumdana, a former central banker himself, said fake currency erodes
confidence in business dealings. He said fake currency is retrogressive
in that an innocent businessman would go to bank money only to be
rejected.

He said amid fake currency people become cautious in their business dealings and that way confidence levels go down.