Cash demand soars for Singapore's bicentennial
Jun 20, 2019
The one-off issue S$20 banknote was designed by local artists Eng Siak Loy and Weng Ziyan, and depicts Singapore's journey to nationhood and pays tribute to forefathers who laid the foundations for modern Singapore.
On June 17th, 2019, people rushed to banks to get their hands on the beautiful banknotes, sometimes queueing for hours before the bank branches opened.
'[The $20 Singapore Bicentennial commemorative note] pays tribute to generations of our forebears who arrived from different lands, sank roots here, and laid the foundations for modern Singapore.'
Excerpt from the Straits Times article
The notes, which came with a specially designed folder, featured Singapore's first president, Mr Yusof Ishak, along with the former supreme court and city hall - now the National Gallery Singapore - at the front, and eight pioneers who made significant contributions to nation-building across various fields, in the back.
“Within the first three hours of our branches opening, six to seven branches had already run out of notes.”
Commemorative notes, like the bicentennial one, are usually very high in demand in the first few days of their launch when the public receives them from the bank and resells them, noted Mr Leon Lee, manager of Monetarium Singapore.