Old Silver Coins Being Taken Out of Circulation

The Central Bank this month began to take out of circulation the silver coins of ¢1, ¢2, ¢5, ¢10, and ¢20, Central Bank Treasury Director Ricardo Rodríguez told The Tico Times.

The Central Bank is required under a 2004 Sala Constitutional ruling to replace the silver coins with others designed so that blind people can distinguish different coin values.

The Central Bank began putting new smaller gold-colored coins into circulation in July. Rodríguez said the public can help take the silver-colored coins out of circulation by taking them to the bank. Though the old coins still have the same value, the Central Bank will decide early next year when to devaluate them.

Rodríguez said the Central Bank will put another 10 million ¢500 coins into circulation during the coffee harvest season, which started last month and goes until December.

The coins are in high demand during the coffee season because farm owners pay workers about ¢500 per cajuela harvested. A cajuela is a basket of coffee that weighs about 32 pounds.