Treasury to cust cost for coin production
Treasury Department plans to lower the production cost of coins, after finding that over 30 per cent of the circulating coins in the domestic economy have been lost.
The ruling junta will be asked to reduce the cost by reducing the value of raw metal used for coin production, said department's director general Narit Chaiyasut.
The Treasury Department will propose two methods for the council to consider, including installing coin exchange machines in malls, as well as important religious and tourist destinations, he said.
Another option was to hire private companies to use their employees to exchange coins at internet cafes and temples, with companies receiving 10 per cent from each 100 coins exchanged.
Narit said that the latter method would require less production cost.
The costs of production for currently circulated coins in Thailand of 25 satang to 10 baht coins, range from 28 satang to Bt4.40 per coin on average, he said, noting that the figures are quite high and must be reduced.
He said at present around 30 per cent of circulated coins are missing from the domestic economy, which feeds Bt70 million in coins into the economy monthly, as most people collect the coins or donate them to temples, prompting the department to produce more coins in some years.
The department has predicted that it would only produce 1,300-1,400 million coins to be circulated this year, which is lower that the earlier targeted figure of 1,800 million coins, though it has ensured that this would not affect the demand for coins for spending.