There is a shortage of 5, 10 and 20 cent coins in Belgium. This is partly due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia. The business community is asking consumers to deposit or use their coins to make appropriate payments.
“Deposit your accumulated 5, 10 and 20 cent coins into your bank account, use them to pay appropriately,” financial institutions and retailers ask. Due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, there are not enough raw materials to mint extra coins.
But: war is not the only cause. There would be enough coins in circulation, but they are not being used. It is therefore also up to the consumer, say the interest group for the financial sector Febelfin, representative for trade and services Comeos and the Union of Independent Entrepreneurs (Unizo). Since the corona crisis, fewer and fewer people are paying properly and as a result, the coins no longer reach merchants and banks. The three organizations are now calling for something to be done about it.
In addition to paying appropriately with cash and depositing coins, they advise Belgians to pay for their purchases digitally “as much as possible”, even for small amounts: “Contactless payment is a quick, secure and user-friendly alternative to cash”. And finally: “Put your 5, 10 and 20 euro cents coins into circulation by donating them to a good cause”. Those who own large volumes of coins may have them deposited into their account. Whether there are any fees associated with this can vary by bank.
Surplus: The Netherlands sells coins to Croatia
Where the Belgians are short on coins, the Netherlands has long had a surplus. These are smaller currencies: For several years now, there have been more 1 and 2 euro cent coins in the Netherlands than we need ourselves. Since 5 cent amounts are rounded in the Netherlands, we hardly use the two smaller coins. Many Dutch people only get their hands on those coins on vacation. For example, foreign tourists also spend these coins in the Netherlands.
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has sold almost 70 million redundant euro coins to Croatia since 1 July. That country will join the eurozone next year and will therefore need a lot of coins on January 1st. These are mainly 2 and 1 euro and 2 and 1 cent coins. The sale of state stock coins, which come from all euro countries and therefore not only the Dutch euro coins, is happening more and more often, according to DNB.
Due to the delivery, the coins do not have to be destroyed and Croatia will have to mint much less of its own coins in the short term.
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