Production Cost of Minting Five-cent Coins in Past Five Years and Plans for Withdrawing from Circulation

1 Mr Fadli Fawzi asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) in each of the last five years, what is the cost of minting each five-cent coin; (b) where the seigniorage on five-cent coins is negative, whether the Government has any plans to withdraw five-cent coins from circulation; and (c) if not, why not.

Mr Gan Kim Yong (for the Prime Minister): The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has not minted any new five-cent coins in the last five years and there are no plans to mint new five-cent coins at this stage.

Our estimate is that the cost of producing a five-cent coin remains below its face value.

MAS currently has no plans to stop the issuance of five-cent coins as there continues to be public demand for these coins. Businesses, like supermarkets and fast food restaurants, do price some items with five-cents, for example, $1.95; and stores may charge five cents to 10 cents for each disposable bag. Withdrawing five-cent coins from circulation could have an effect of retailers rounding up their prices and increasing costs to consumers.

MAS will continue to monitor the usage patterns and demand for five-cent coins to assess the relevance of this denomination for the longer term.