BSP to mint P20 coin – official
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2019 16:23:14 +0000
THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will mint a P20 coin to replace the banknote of the same amount in circulation now, according to a senior central bank official.
In a recent interview, BSP Senior Assistant Governor Dahlia Luna told reporters that the central bank’s policymaking Monetary Board had approved the coin’s minting.
“Hopefully we can release it (P20 coin) in the first quarter of next year, if not the end of this year, because the Monetary Board had already instructed us to make the design,” said Luna, also the head of the BSP Security Plant Complex that is responsible for producing Philippine banknotes and coins.
The decision to mint a P20 coin, she also said, is based on a University of the Philippines study that found the P20 bill is the country’s most widely used banknote, and thus prone to have a shorter lifespan.
Compared to the less-than-a-year lifespan of a banknote, a coin can last for as long as 15 years.
Asked for further details, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno told reporters that it was “still under deliberations by the Monetary Board.”
Coins in circulation now is the New Generation Currency (NGC) Coin Series, made up of the 10-peso, 5-peso, 1-peso, 25-cent, 5-cent and 1-cent coins.
The series’ design features enhanced the coins’ aesthetics and security, according to the BSP.
“In particular, micro-printed details using laser-engraving technology were included in the two highest denominated coins, the 10-Piso and 5-Piso, which makes it difficult for these coins to be duplicated using traditional coin counterfeiting methods,” it explained.
The central bank also said the metallic composition of these NGC coins also discourages the illegal practice of hoarding large quantities of coins for the extraction of their metal content.
The coins, which appear as “metallic silver,” are made from durable nickel-plated steel that possess very good wear and corrosion resistance. The change in material addresses concerns on discoloration predominantly observed for copper-based metals.
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