Sierra Leone removes zeros from currency “to make life easier”



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Sierra Leone loses the last three zeros of its currency, the leone.

According to the country’s central bank, the new currency will be valued at around 10 to the US dollar.

The leone has been declining since the introduction of austerity measures in 2017.

With mining companies and government in a long-standing battle, the Covid-19 pandemic has made matters worse.

Central bank governor Professor Kelfala Kallon said the move would make it easier for people to travel with “a whole lot of cash to do something very simple.”

He told the BBC’s Focus on Africa radio show that people had put themselves in danger with thieves “on the prowl. [banks] to see who comes out with a big bag and then they follow them ”.

The governor said the new denomination would also give Sierra Leoneans a “psychological boost”.

No date has been given as to when exactly the new leone, as it will be called, will be introduced.

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