Six newly-designed Tongan pa'anga notes of different demoninations, featuring King George Tupou V were released for circulation today by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga.

Commercial banks were trading with the new $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, and $50 notes, which also have a new metallic security strip.

The full set of seven notes includes a new $100 pa'anga note that was released in July 2008 to mark the king's coronation on August 1.

Lata Tangimana of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga said today that the old Tupou IV notes will remain in circulation but they would be gradually phased-out.

Work on the new designs began in March 2007 and the notes were printed by De La Rue Currency and Security Print Company in the United Kingdom.

All security features remain and they have added a state of the art security technology Optiks a security feature to discourage counterfeiters.

The new notes bear the signatures of the Prime Minister Hon. Dr Feleti Sevele and the Minister of Finance Hon. 'Afu'alo Matoto.

On the verso of the Tupou V set are images of Tonga. The $100 pa'anga note features the Port of Refuge, Vava'u; $50 the Palace; $20 the NRBT Building; $10 the Royal Tombs; $2 Tonga Side School, Education and Sport; and $1 whale watching.