National Bank of Moldova to hold public consultations on intriduction of coins worth 1 leu, 2 lei

Chisinau, 27 June /MOLDPRES/ - The National Bank of Moldova (BNM) today started public consultations on the concept of the coins worth 1 leu and 2 lei, the central bank is set to introduce in circulation. The consultations will last till 4 August 2017.  

Following a seminar titled, Monetary Circulation. Introduction of Coins with Nominal Values of 1 Leu and 2 Lei, BNM deputy governor Ion Sturzu said that the best sketches would be selected by a commission of the National Bank, they would be awarded prizes and might appear on future coins.   

“We ruled to switch to this coin, as many tourists come to Moldova and there is a habit to preserve a coin from the country where you have been; therefore, it is important that the new coin represents us. We were set to start public consultations with citizens. They will last till 4 August and will be in form of sketches from relevant sectors with reasoning the topics. The sketch should be on an A4 sheet of paper, with a detailed description of what the design represents. Subsequently, a commission, made up of persons from different fields and BNM employees, will analyze them. Six sketches will be identified and the authors will be awarded prizes,” the deputy governor said.       

The prizes for winners will be silver coins titled, 20th Anniversary of Foundation of the Moldovan Coin, 1,900th Anniversary of the Foundation of Trajan’s Column, and a silver coin, The Soroca Fortress.   

BNM Governor Sergiu Cioclea has earlier said that the introduction of the coins worth 1 leu and 2 lei was a recommendation by the International Monetary Fund. The coins have a high degree of security, higher than the 1 leu banknote in circulation.

“I have noticed that the banknotes worth 1 leu are worn out very quickly and their life cycle is quite short. They do not observe a lot of security criteria, and to issue banknotes with a higher level of security, their nominal value is too cheap for us to do this. One of the solutions, one of the IMF’s recommendations for the security of the national currency would the introduction of a coin with a nominal value of 1 leu or even 2 lei, as there is no even a division of 2 lei. Yet, this is only a project; I hope that we will discuss this conceptually in summer, and if we see that the project is viable, we will go ahead,” Cioclea said.   

The banknotes worth 1 leu will circulate concomitantly with the coins of 1 leu, till the banknotes are used up.  

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Raileanu)