According to the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andrii Pyshnyi, kopecks may replace coins with a denomination of 50 shags in Ukraine next year.
Points of attention
- The National Bank of Ukraine is considering replacing pennies with coins denominated as 50 shags as early as next year, according to NBU Head Andrii Pyshnyi.
- The initiative to replace pennies with shags does not require additional financial costs and involves minting about 20 million shag coins in 2025.
- The gradual transition process will allow both pennies and shags to be in circulation simultaneously for several years in Ukraine.
- The introduction of 50 shag coins may pique the interest of numismatists due to the historical significance of this new currency.
- The NBU aims to start issuing the first shag coins instead of pennies next year, with plans to mint about 20 million 50-kopeck coins by 2025.
What is known about the introduction of shags in Ukraine instead of pennies
If the parliament supports our initiative this year, we will be able to get the shags into circulation already in the first half of 2025, — explains Pyshnyi.
He noted that this idea was long overdue.
The head of the National Bank of Ukraine emphasized that after the declaration of independence in the spring of 1992, the possibility of introducing shags was already discussed and sketches of coins — 1, 5, 10 and 25 shags — were even made.
Pyshnyi emphasized that the implementation of the initiative does not require additional financial costs.
By 2025, we are planning to mint about 20 million 50-kopeck coins instead of those in circulation. If an appropriate decision is made regarding steps, then we will simply provide the necessary settings and start minting already "50 shags", — said the head of the NBU.
What is known about the plan to replace pennies with shags
According to him, there are currently about 1 billion 350 million 50-kopeck coins in circulation, so the minting of 20 million coins to replace some of them will not affect money circulation.
Pishnyi emphasized that the complete replacement of pennies will take place gradually, therefore, in Ukraine, both pennies and shags will be in circulation for several years.
We do not rule out that when we issue the first coins with a denomination of 50 shags, they may well be of interest to numismatists, because this is the return of our history, — noted the head of the NBU.
