The withdrawal of a country's lowest-denomination coins from circulation (usually a one-cent coin or equivalent) may either be through a decision to remove the coins from circulation, or simply through ceasing minting.
Reasons
This withdrawal may be due to the high cost of production, since the coin may be worth less than its cost of production. For example, when Canada phased out its penny in 2012, its production cost was 1.6 cents per penny.[1]
Other reasons include low purchasing power and low utility. Often coins are withdrawn after their purchasing power has been eroded after decades of inflation. In Switzerland, the 1 Rappen coin had fallen into disuse by the early 1980s, but was still produced until 2006, albeit in ever decreasing quantities. Conversely, the British Treasury department initially argued for the retention of the decimalhalfpenny, on the grounds that its withdrawal would drive up inflation.[2]
In some countries, such as New Zealand,[3] withdrawn coins are declared to be no longer legal tender; in other countries, such as Australia, they remain legal tender indefinitely.[4]
When the coin in question is no longer minted, cash transactions are rounded, typically through Swedish rounding.[5]
Efforts have been made to end the routine use of pennies, and equivalents thereof, in several more countries, including the United States.[6] Countries in the eurozone have had different responses to the issue; according to James Debono writing for Malta Today, "scrapping the coins is considered unthinkable for Germany where both consumers and retailers are obsessed with precise pricing."[7]
31 December 2001 31 December 2001 31 December 2001 30 April 1959
No
As of 1 January 2002, with the introduction of the euro, the Austrian Schilling lost its function as a legal currency, but all legal tender coins at the time of the discontinuation of the Schilling are still convertible to Euros indefinitely.
Production of the one-cent coin ended on 31 January 2020; one-cent coins remained as valid coins for use until 30 December 2020; were accepted for full redemption from the partner banks of the Central Bank of the Bahamas through 30 June 2021.
7 May 1953 7 May 1953 1 January 1957 1 January 1957 26 November 1969 4 July 1980 25 June 1985
No
With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002, the 50-centime, 1-franc, 5-franc, 20-franc and 50-franc coins ceased to function as legal currencies.
Cash transactions with sums ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents are rounded down; those ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents are rounded up. Non-cash transactions are still denominated to the cent.
Production of 1- and 2-cent coins ceased in 1983 and were demonetized in 1993; 5-cent coin demonetized on 30 April 2016, along with previous coin issues.
As of 2009, 1 and 2 lipa coins struck only as annual coin sets.[10] With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2023, the kuna ceased to be a legal tender currency.
1 and 2 tetri coins were discontinued as of 1 January 2021 and lost their status as legal tender. According to the new regulations on cash payments introduced by the National Bank of Georgia on 1 January 2019, 1 and 2 tetri are rounded to 0, and 3, 4, 6 and 7 tetri are rounded to 5.
30 September 1992 30 September 1996 30 September 1999 1 March 2008
No
2- and 5-filler coins were exchangeable at the Hungarian National Bank until 31 December 1993. 10- and 20-filler coins were exchangeable until 31 December 1997. 50-filler coins were exchangeable until 30 September 2000. 1- and 2-forint coins were exchangeable for five years from the date of withdrawal.[12]
Coins below 1 lira were withdrawn in 1947. 1- and 2-lire coins minted from 1968 for collectors' use only; 5-, 10-, and 20-lire coins fell out of use before the 1990's. All lira-denominated coins were withdrawn in 2002 with the introduction of the euro and exchangeable until 2011.
All rin and sen coins were eventually demonetized at the end of 1953 when the Japanese government passed a law abolishing subsidiary coinage in favor of the yen.[14] 1-yen, 5-yen, and 50-yen coins have not been officially withdrawn and are produced in limited quantities for annual coin sets.[15]
With the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002, the 5-cent, 10-cent, 25-cent, 1-guilder, 2+1⁄2-guilder and 5-guilder coins ceased to function as legal currencies.
1- and 5-won coins have not been officially withdrawn and are produced in limited quantities for the Bank of Korea's official annual coin sets since 1992. Amounts are rounded to the nearest 10 won.
10 old para (0.25 old kuruş) 1⁄2 old kuruş (0.5 old kuruş) 1 old kuruş 21⁄2 old kuruş 5, 10, 25 and 50 kuruş 1 old lira 21⁄2 old lira 5, 10, 20 and 25 old lira 50 and 100 old lira 500, 1,000 and 2,500 old lira 5,000 old lira 10,000 old lira 25,000 old lira 50,000, 100,000 and 250,000 old lira
Decimal halfpennies can be paid into bank accounts at the discretion of commercial banks; cannot be exchanged by the general public at the Royal Mint, although private companies exist which can do so.
