SRI LANKA INTRODUCES NEW SMALLER COINS

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 48, December 2, 2018, Article 24

Kavan Ratnatunga published an article today in The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka about that country's new small coins. Here's an excerpt. See the complete article online, where Kavan performs an analysis of the cost of minting. -Editor

A new series of smaller circulation coins released by the Central Bank (CB) will be issued to the public, on December 3 after a presentation box was given to Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa on November 27.

The Rs.10 and Rs. 5 coins have been made thinner and the Rs. 2 coin has been made 30 per cent smaller. Seven notches have been cut into the side of the Rs. 2 coin to make it more easily identified by the visually impaired people. The Rs. 2 coin diameter has been reduced from 28.3 mm to 22 mm, something that should have been done back in 2005 with the Rs. 1 coin, which reduced then from 25.4 mm to 20 mm. All are cost-cutting measures which are being marketed with the weight of coins is reduced to give more portability.

The basic design layout of these standard circulation coins has been changed significantly. For the first time since the circulation standard, the one Rupee coin was introduced in 1963 in the Sinhala only era, the name of the country appears on it in Tamil and English.

The design has on the obverse the Armorial Ensign of Sri Lanka with the short name of the country SRI LANKA in English, in Sinhala, and in Tamil, on left, top and right of ensign. The year 2017 is at the bottom, all within a plain circle inside a raised rim. On the reverse large numeric value on top with the value in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, in three lines below with decreasing font size – all within a border of traditional lotus petals around the periphery.

The last time the sizes of coins were changed in 2005 the CB did a lot of publicity about the fact to educate the public. This time there has been hardly any notice to the public. The CB press release has not even mentioned the new weights of coins as they always do when the circulation standard weight is changed. That was always part of the Gazette notices of the past at least since 1870. When I phoned and asked the CB for the weights, I was told it was not part of the specification given to the Kremnica mint. I hope banks and coin machines will handle the change.

To read the complete article, see:
New smaller coins into circulation (http://www.sundaytimes.lk/181202/business-times/new-smaller-coins-into-circulation-322502.html)