KARACHI, June 21: People have only nine days to get Rs5 notes exchanged with Rs5 coins or notes of higher denominations. From July 1, these notes will become just pieces of paper — unable to buy anything. The warning came from the State Bank on Monday through a press release that advised people to get these notes exchanged by June 30.

At end-June 2004, some two billion pieces of these notes worth Rs10 billion were in circulation before the SBP discontinued issuing new notes from July 1, 2004. Earlier, from December 27, 2003, Rs5 coins were introduced but they entered the market in a big way only at the start of this year.

Chief spokesman for SBP said that at end-May 2005, four hundred million notes of Rs5 were in circulation. The amount must have fallen further in 20 days of this month as people continue to exchange these notes with coins or notes of higher denomination.