Egypt's new 'copycat' 10 pound note greeted with derision on social media

Social media users have criticized the design of Egypt's new polymer 10 pound note, pointing out its stark resemblance to the UK's 10 pound note.
2 min read
06 July, 2022
The note's similarity to the British 10 pound note was immediately picked up on [Getty]

Egypt’s central bank on Tuesday announced a new series of polymer bank notes, which will circulate along with currently used paper notes for the time being.

The Egyptian government says the aim of the new bank notes is to raise the quality of money in circulation and cut printing costs.

However, the design of the new notes was almost immediately criticised by Egyptian social media users who pointed the strong similarity between the new Egyptian 10 pound note to the currently circulating British 10 pound note.

The new Egyptian note uses very similar colours and writing to the British 10 pound note.

It also depicts ancient Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut and social media users mockingly pointed out the similarity of the size and poise of her head on the note to that of British Queen Elizabeth II on the UK 10 pound note.

One Twitter account, using the name “Madaniya”, even uploaded designs for a new series of bank notes, saying “On the occasion of the theft of the design of new ten pound note from the ten pound sterling note, here are some new designs made by youths from their own efforts, which they uploaded to social media.”

The reverse of the new note features the giant Al-Fattah Al-Aleem Mosque, which was recently constructed in the controversial New Administrative Capital which is being built by the Egyptian government east of Cairo.

This was also the subject of criticism, with social media users saying that an image of one of Egypt’s many historic mosques and religious buildings should have been used instead.

The new Egyptian 10 pound note currently has a value of less than one-twentieth that of its British counterpart.