The Central Bank has issued a new $50 note to coincide with Trinidad and Tobago's 50th Independence anniversary celebrations.

The olive green note was unveiled yesterday at the Bank by Governor Ewart Williams and Finance Minister Winston Dookeran at a special ceremony at the Eric Williams Financial Centre, Port of Spain .

The note is expected to be released to the public via banking institutions by August 1. This is the second time the $50 note will join the current suite of bank notes. It had been introduced in 1977 and was discontinued in 1979, when several issued notes went missing.

Williams said the new note will be more convenient for the public as it will bridge the gap between the $20 and $100 notes. It will also in the long run reduce the cost to the Central Bank, as it would reduce demand for smaller notes.

He added that since the notes remain within the current parameters between the $1 and $100 notes, there should be no fear that it would lead to inflation or cause merchants to raise prices, as can happen with a higher denomination.

The bill was designed and will be printed by De La Rue, the UK-based printer of Trinidad and Tobago's currency. It maintains a look and feel of current notes, with a few tweaks.

It is olive green, and like other notes, features a particular bird. The lucky creature on the $50 bill will be the red capped cardinal—so chosen because of its distinctive red, white and black colouring—on the front face, and an image of the Red House on the back. The note will also introduce the new feature of raised bars on the left and right, to aid the visually-impaired.

Subsequent notes in other denominations will also have this feature when they are next printed. Each note will have a different number of bars (the $50 note will have six).