THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is set to open its coin minting facility in Cebu next year.
BSP 7 Deputy Director Christine Tan, in an interview on Friday, Oct. 26, said the minting facility in Cebu will fulfill the requirements for Visayas and Mindanao.
“By next year, we will already have a minting plant in Cebu,” said Tan. “The machine is scheduled for delivery next year.” The minting facility will be located inside the BSP 7 Office on Osmeña Blvd.
Tan said the installation of a minting facility in the country means a cost benefit for the central bank. Cebu gets its supply of coins from Manila while coin requirements for Mindanao still pass through Cebu.
BSP 7 has yet to know the production capacity of the minting machine. But coin minting, Tan said, would depend on the projections of banks.
From January to October, BSP 7 already released P182 million worth of coins to Cebu banks.
Banknotes and coins of the Philippines are minted and printed at the Security Plant Complex of the BSP in Quezon City.
The annual volume/value of currency to be issued is projected based on currency demand that is estimated from a set of economic indicators that measure the country’s economic activity.
However, the total amount of banknotes and coins that the BSP may issue should not exceed the total assets of the BSP.
There are about 3.4 billion pieces of notes valued at P1.198 trillion and 29.3 billion pieces of coins valued at P34 billion in circulation as of June.
Recently, the BSP introduced the new generation currency (NGC) coin series with enhanced security features using the latest technology in minting to prevent counterfeiting.
It said the metallic composition of the NGC coins was changed to discourage illegal extraction of valuable metal content.
BSP said this practice has resulted in the hoarding of large quantities of coins, for extraction of metallic contents in overseas smelting entities. The metallic composition of the NGC coin series also contributes to improved wear and corrosion resistance capabilities. KOC