Bank of Guyana to stop minting $1 coin

The Bank of Guyana (BoG) has decided to stop minting the $1 coin, and this could see this currency, first introduced during 1996, being removed from circulation in a few years’ time.
A notice from the BoG has said the decision to stop minting this coin is based on the general public’s reluctance to accept it, compounded by the low redemption rates and high production cost.
A senior BoG official told Guyana Times that it is costing the bank four times more than the normal cost to produce one coin. In other words, it currently costs the bank $5 to produce one dollar coin.
Although the BoG would no longer be minting the dollar coin, this currency would continue to be a legal tender, and would continue to be accepted throughout Guyana. The BoG notice has said that if, for some reason, the $1 coin is not available, payments may be rounded to the nearest $5.
The BoG has said it would continue to issue the $1 coin until the stock is depleted, and it will exchange these coins for banknotes. Stopping the dollar coin from circulation is nowhere close to happening, it has said.
A local expert in finance and economics told this newspaper that the decision taken by the BoG is a necessary one, and should have been made much earlier.
He confirmed what many Guyanese have said over the years: that the $1 coin does not carry any value. In fact, the expert feels that not only should the BoG stop minting the $1 coin, but the $5 coin also.
To support his argument, the expert said that coins are also bad for the environment, especially since most of them are metal copper plated. So, reducing the production of metal would be beneficial.
Another point he raised is the fact that coins are cumbersome for people’s wallets. And with the transition to credit and debit cards, it becomes even more irrelevant to have those coins around.
Guyana currently has one-dollar coins, five-dollar coins and 10-dollar coins in circulation.