DR Congo's Central Bank launches new banknotes.

The governor of the Congolese Central Bank (BCC) Jean-Claude Masangu on Monday witnessed the official launch of new banknotes of 1,000 Congolese Franc (FC), 5, 000 FC and 10,000 FC at the Commercial Bank of Congo in Kinshasa.

"In my capacity as the governor, I wanted to verify on the ground how it feels to receive these notes from a counter at the bank.

I wanted to find out if the instructions issued by BCC were respected. Besides, it should be appreciated that the only channel for launching these new currency notes was through banks," Masangu said.

The Central Bank governor said that BCC had used its provincial branches as well as other autonomous agencies to distribute the new banknotes to commercial banks across the country.

He also urged the Congolese citizens to start saving their money with the commercial banks instead of keeping it in their homes, because the money could be used to develop the economy as well as help the account holders to plan their investments.

Masangu expressed confidence that the new measures will not lead to a rise in inflation and hence an increase in the price of basic products in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).