The BSP was calling for a strong law against coin hoarding in the Philippines.
BSP — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was calling for a strong law against coin hoarding in the Philippines following law enforcers’ crackdown of some PHP 50-million worth of bagged 1-piso coins in a warehouse in Quezon City.
In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Sunday that the BSP was advocating the passage of a law on the hoarding of an extremely large volume of coins in the Philippines.
This, as the BSP believed that the criminalization of the said activity reinforced continuing efforts “to maintain and protect the integrity of Philippine currency”.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has a “Coin Recirculation Program” in order to urge the public to use coins “to pay for goods and services or deposit them in banks” and to “refrain from unnecessarily accumulating coins”.
According to a report on Manila Bulletin, the stockpile of coins was seized from a warehouse in Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City. BSP agents found out that the 1-piso coins were from different design series after their initial inspection at the said warehouse.
“Representative samples of the seized coins are now being tested by the BSP to confirm their authenticity,” the BSP said.
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, coin hoarding resulted in the inefficient circulation of coins in the Philippines and prevented their primary use as a medium of exchange, adding that it “hampers the efficient flow of transactions and causes an artificial shortage, which is disruptive to the financial system”.
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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was currently working with the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and officials of the Barangay Laging Handa in order to further investigate the coin hoarding in the country.
Also, the central bank was in close coordination with the “lawyer” of the alleged co-owner of the seized coins at the said warehouse.
About 73.8% of coins circulated in the Philippines were produced in-house at BSP’s Quezon City facility last 2020, while 26.2% of coins were outsourced.
Based on the report, there were 1.329 billion pieces of minted coins produced last year.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which outsourced coin blanks from foreign mint makers, had been urging Filipinos to use more coins in order to improve its recirculation.
An artificial shortage of coins may occur due to the common practice by people of keeping coins idle in drawers, piggy banks, and bank vaults instead of re-circulating them.
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