The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that it is studying the possibility of rolling out the establishment of the coin deposit machines in strategic areas around the country to entice individuals to allow their coins that are stocked in their piggy banks or homes to be circulated to address the coin shortage.
Rodora Teresa Opiniano, Bank Officer IV, BSP North Luzon, said that phase one of the deployment of the coin deposit machines has been confined in the Greater Manila Area (GMA) because of the traffic and the volume of transactions that have been recorded that is why the BSP is looking into deploying the said machines in strategic areas in the country.
The BSP official claimed that there will be a second phase in the deployment of the coin deposit machines but as what places will be considered will be dependent on the study that will be conducted to ascertain the places where the said machines will be made available to entice individuals to bring out their coins for circulation.
According to her, the roll out of the coin deposit machines in Metro Manila was successful that paved the way for individuals to bring out their coins for circulation to help in addressing the shortage of coins in the country.
Opiniano stipulated that there are enough coins that had been produced but the problem is that there is shortage because many individuals opt to place them in their piggy banks or leave them in their homes as savings.
She advised individuals whose piggy banks are already filled up with coins to either deposit them in their bank accounts or have them replaced with paper bills so that the same will be circulated to improve the availability of coins in circulation.
Opiniano urged the public to allow their coins to circulate in the market so that there will be available coins fir distribution considering that the production of additional coins will entail a huge amount that will be shelled out for the said purpose which is not actually practical at this time as the remedy to the coin shortage is for every Filipino to make available their coins in circulation.
She stipulated that there will surely be a second phase in the deployment of the coin deposit machines in various parts of the country, but it will still be dependent on the results of the study that will be conducted by the BSP so that potential areas with heavy traffic will be the ones that will be prioritized to allow more coins that will be available in the market.
