50 Toman Coin in Iran's Monetary Cycle - 2003-11-11

The director of the Currency Issuance and Treasury Department of the Central Bank of Iran announced the introduction of a new generation of coins into the monetary cycle of the country, stating, "In addition to minting coins with new designs, sizes, and alloys in denominations of 50 to 250 rials, 500 rial coins will also enter the monetary cycle of the country." In an interview with Mehr News Agency, Jalal Jalilian added, "The design phase of these coins has been completed, and after minting sample coins and obtaining the necessary permits, it is hoped that they will enter the monetary cycle by early next year." Jalilian emphasized that the issuance of larger denomination banknotes in the country is an administrative measure to improve services in the banking network and facilitate monetary transactions, rather than an economic action. He stressed the issuance of 50 and 10 thousand rial banknotes alongside 20 thousand rial banknotes, adding, "According to the Central Bank's indices, the 10 thousand rial banknote printed in 1971, considering price increases, is now worth only 67 rials compared to the prices of 1971." He emphasized that the issuance of larger banknotes is not inflationary, stating, "Banknotes and coins have a very small share in liquidity, so that out of 415 trillion rials of liquidity in 2002, the share of banknotes and coins was only 37 trillion rials." Jalilian pointed out the high volume of worn-out banknotes in the country's monetary cycle and added, "As long as larger denomination banknotes do not enter the banking cycle, it will not be possible to clean the banking network of worn-out banknotes. Furthermore, larger denomination banknotes will improve service delivery in this network." He described the banks' ability to fully collect worn-out banknotes as limited, stating, "Currently, in addition to the Currency Issuance and Treasury Department of the Central Bank, about 24 thousand cashiers in the banking network are engaged in collecting worn-out banknotes, but they only manage to collect 700 million worn-out banknotes a year." The director of the Currency Issuance and Treasury Department of the Central Bank of Iran continued, "While more than 1.2 billion worn-out banknotes are created in the country every year, given the capacity of the banking network, 500 million fewer worn-out banknotes are collected each year, and regarding the accumulation of worn-out banknotes, the situation of banknotes in the hands of the public worsens every year." Jalilian mentioned the useful life of banknotes as five years and added, "Due to the low culture of using banknotes in the country, banknotes wear out sooner than their useful life."