BSP
urges Aklanons to spend coins
Jun Ariolo N. Aguirre
KALIBO, Aklan - The Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas (BSP) branch here appealed to Aklanons to
use their coins in their daily transactions to keep
them in circulation to address the artificial shortage
of lower denominated coins.
These coins are one peso, 25 centavos,
10 centavos, five centavos and one centavo.
BSP-Kalibo Branch Deputy Director Leonora
Templonuevo said that as of 2009, the BSP has circulated
15.6 billion coins worth P16.9 billion.
“But sad to say, these coins slowly
disappear from circulation. They are either kept in
piggy banks or containers, or are left at home since
some find it inconvenient to bring along coins for their
regular shopping,” she said.
Because of this, coins become scarce
that resulted to the inexact change received from transport
facilities (tricycle, bus, jeep, etc.) or candies given
in lieu of coins from groceries, pharmacies and stores,
Templonuevo said.
“If we round-off the prices of
all items to P5s or P10s, we will be paying more for
the basic commodities usually priced with centavos like
fuel, groceries and medicines,” she explained.
Thus the BSP-Kalibo is discouraging
Aklanons from saving coins. Rather, it encourages the
depositing of accumulated coins with any bank. It also
welcomes donation of coins for the “Tulong-Barya
Para Sa Eskwela” (TBPSE), a coin recirculation
project of the BSP and the Department of Education for
the benefit of school children.
However, these donated coins should
be regularly retrieved and deposited to the TBPSE account
with any bank which will form part of the bank’s
resources in servicing their clients’ needs for
coins.
“Start unloading those saved coins
from your storage containers and make it a habit of
paying daily expenses with coins. This will help facilitate
the regular circulation of coins nationwide,”
Templonuevo urged Aklanons.
“If successful, we will reap the
benefit of receiving exact change for our transactions;
the business sector, particularly, retail outlets, will
have sufficient coin supply to serve their customers,
and the government will generate substantial savings
in terms of lower coin production,” she added./PN
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