THE announcement Tuesday by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke that a new $2,000 banknote bearing the images of late former prime ministers Michael Manley and Edward Seaga has generated a lot of public discussion.

One citizen, Michael Willis, in a letter published in the Jamaica Observer on March 10, said the announcement was a great push by the current Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government to immortalise former Prime Minister Edward Seaga by placing him beside Michael Manley, his rival in politics. He accused the JLP of being out of touch with reality and out of ideas aligned with good governance.

“Now, the last time I checked, two $1,000 notes still totalled $2,000, so why the special need for the $2,000? There is no need for any new bills at this time and definitely no need for a $2,000 note. This move was solely to have Edward Seaga included on our banknotes, which demonstrates how little this Government cares for the real and pressing affairs of this country; it is all a political game,” Willis said in his letter.

On the streets of downtown Kingston and Cross Roads in St Andrew on Friday, some Jamaicans, particularly vendors, expressed concerns about making change when people begin to use the new $2,000 bill. Some said the current bills are fine and should remain the way they are, while others embraced the idea, telling the Observer that it will now be easier to make change for $5,000 bills.

People were asked: What are your thoughts on the $2,000 banknote?

Mureen Green

“Mi think dem fi just lef di money dem like how it is. Suppose you want to give somebody $1,000, how you a go give dem yah now? Will I have to walk up and down to go look change to give somebody $1,000 out of $2,000? Mi nuh see the sense of it. You can have your one $2,000 and it drop and lost. A dun it dun deh suh, yuh nuh have not one dollar more. When you have the $5,000 bill, sometimes it hard fi get change. Nobody nuh want it. When people a buy two things out of it, yhu nuh have no change. Sometimes I just come in the market and don’t have no change, so sometimes you lose sale.”

Jean Richardson

“The new $2,000 bill, in a sense, could be very helpful. Mek wi see wah it a deal wid first. Mi nah bash it. The only thing is that the elderly people have to really watch because dem eye part nuh suh good, but the new money is a good thing.”

Sophia Jarrett

“We don’t want nuh change of money. We want change of road, life, and house. A nuff things deh deh fi change, apart from money. People want place fi live and the road dem waa fix, plus hungry a kill wi. Mi nuh want no $2,000 note. Suppose wi have to go pon a bus, how wi gonna get the $2,000 changed. Dem done mek $5,000 and wi can’t manage, now wi a get $2,000, how wi a go change it?”

Michael Clarke

“To me, it just pretty. Di $2,000 bill nuh mek nuh difference. The money nuh have no value and we done a have problem fi change out di $1,000 bill, so why you a go come wid a $2,000? Di $5,000 bill nuh mek no sense either.”

Janet Alexander

“If a suh, a suh.”

Devon

“Di $2,000 bill relevant. Fi change a $5,000 is stressing. You have to have five $1,000 bills or ten $500 bills. It much better now if you have two $2,000 bills and a $1,000 bill.”

Fleego

“Mi like the idea. Mi can mek some change because di $5,000, nuff time nobody nuh waa change dem. A good look as a businessman. Nuff time you have the $5,000 and the bus nuh want it and the shop dem nuh want it. A bredda come and buy a pear from mi one evening and just seh gimmie one. When mi check is a bad one him gi mi. Mi all give him change. Mi lose $4,700 plus the fruits. Rain fall and catch mi and di money just melt out.”

Miss Francis

“If things have to work that way, it just will have to work that way.”

Sonia Robinson

“Mi nuh think it mek sense.”

Malu

“The country gone into a wreck, so naturally wah a happen is a deterioration of the whole thing. When you have one money a value all $2,000, it comeen like a African ting wi gone to, like with Nigerian naira. It evident that in a short period you a go find out seh wi a go have all a million dollars on one note, so when they say a car costs $3 million, wi just go inna a car mart with one, two, or three notes. It is not a good thing for me because it just shows that everything a go down.”