BSP appeals for coin circulation
BACOLOD CITY — Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo made an appeal to the public to use their coins and help BSP in its circulation.
The BSP noted that five centavo to ten peso coins are apparently being imprisoned in piggy banks, containers, vending machines and gaming arcades which prevent its circulation.
“The cost of producing coins is higher than the face value of the coins. So we urge the public to help flush out coins so that the BSP need not produce new ones,” Guinigundo told the local media here during a press conference.
There are 15.6 billion coins in circulation as of December 2009 with a face value of P16.9 billion which, according to the BSP is enough coins for every Filipino.
During its conduct of the Public Information Campaign, the BSP focused more importance on advocacies like Anti-Counterfeit by issuing new bank notes in November this year, microfinance as its flagship advocacy and helping OFW transform their savings to investments for financial independence.
Guinigundo said that the BSP is set to release new generation bank notes by November 2010 as the current notes are in circulation for 23 years already.
“A lot of significant events happened in our history and should be reflected in the new currency and we wanted to get ahead of counterfeiters,” Guinigundo added.
The new generation bank notes will be made from cutting edge technology that will become hard for counterfeiters to follow. It will also carry the world heritage sites in the country as declared by the United Nations.
Old notes or bills will be demonetized in two to three years time after which, these can no longer be used to purchase goods or services but can be changed to new bills through banks.
Among those who attended the PIC are representatives from the banking sector, other financial institutions, national government agencies, non-government organizations and academe.
Participants are also informed of the three pillars of BSP which are price stability, financial stability and efficient payments and settlement system. (PIA/EAD)
