Metal exchange: the Central Bank will conduct an experiment to collect coins from the population

The Bank of Russia plans to conduct an experiment to collect coins from the population through special machines, writes "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" with reference to the materials of the Central Bank.

The pilot is slated for 2022.

It will take place in one of the regions characterized by a low percentage of coin return from circulation.

It is noted that to participate in the project, the Central Bank will attract a technology partner, since the bank does not have the necessary equipment.

If the experiment is deemed successful, the use of the apparatus will expand.

In 2020, the Central Bank issued 1.3 billion coins.

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the share of metallic money that is returned to the cash offices of the Bank of Russia decreased to 46% compared to 63% recorded in 2019.

“More and more commercial enterprises ordering and receiving coins for issuing change, at the same time, refuse to accept coins from the population in order to reduce their costs for its recounting and collection,” the Central Bank says in the “Main directions of development of cash circulation”.

It is also noted that in order to return more coins, the Central Bank intends to stimulate the use of terminals for accepting metallic money.

According to Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the Center for Market Research at the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge at the Higher School of Economics, such actions are regularly held in the world.

“The fact is that, after all, coins do not have the same circulation today as they had 20-30 years ago.

They really settle among the population, almost in three-liter cans.

Now there is a huge surplus of coins, now the population, especially economic agents, do not use any coins.

Moreover, at a time when electronic money is being introduced, "the expert said in an interview with RT.

He noted that at present, the use of metallic money can be imagined in remote regions under certain scenarios, for example, buying newspapers.

Mikhail Belyaev, Ph.D. in Economics, drew attention to the fact that inflation “washes out” those denominations of money from circulation that are significantly lower than the selling price of most goods and services.

According to him, first of all, this applies to coins.

He also noted that the very process of issuing coins is a costly procedure.

“Firstly, it is metal, metals it contains are difficult, non-ferrous metals, which are expensive in themselves.

Secondly, the rather expensive process of stamping, that is, the minting of these coins.

The collection procedures are quite expensive: the issuance and acceptance of these coins in recount.

The production of the coin itself turns out to be much more expensive than the denomination that it represents, ”the expert told RT.

He explained that by returning the coins, the Central Bank will be able to save resources on the minting of new money, since the abandonment of metallic money at this stage is impossible.

“Most likely, it will be an exchange for paper denomination notes, for which you can already buy something.

I think this service will be in demand, ”concluded Belyaev.

Earlier it became known that the Central Bank until 2025 will update the design and improve the protection of all paper banknotes.

Thus, in the period from 2022 to 2025, six modernized banknotes with denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 rubles will be developed and put into circulation in Russia.

Some details of the design of future banknotes are already known.

So, on the front side of the 100-ruble bill, Red Square, the Zaryadye Center, the Shukhov Tower, the Moscow State University building on Vorobyovy Gory and a number of other symbols of Moscow will be depicted.

The Central Bank noted that the design of the 100-ruble banknote has already been developed and approved by the bank's board of directors, it will be released into circulation in 2022.

The obverse of the banknotes with denominations of 10, 500, 1000 and 5000 rubles will be marked with images of Novosibirsk, Pyatigorsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg.

The sights of the Siberian, North Caucasian, Volga and Ural federal districts will appear on their reverse side.

The Central Bank noted that as a result of modernization, all federal districts of Russia will be equally represented on banknotes according to the principle "one denomination of a banknote - one federal district and a city located in it."

Recall that in 2017 new banknotes of 200 and 2000 rubles were presented in Russia.

The first of them depicts the architectural sights of the Crimea, the second - the Vostochny cosmodrome and the bridge on the Russky Island in Vladivostok.