The National Bank of Poland has withdrawn from a plan to pull back low-denomination coins, the bank's president Marek Belka said. He explained that the NBP's plan was not approved by the Ministry of Finance.

In January, the NBP had prepared a draft law on gradually withdrawing one- and two-groszy coins (zł.01 and zł.02), saying that their production costs more than their value.

But further analysis by ministry officials showed that withdrawal of groszy coins could hurt both costumers and retailers. Consumers could pay more for many products, since many stores would raise their prices. And retailers would stop using prices ending in “.99” which is a highly successful promotional tool.

Without ministry's approval, the NBP can't propose a law by itself, so it's looking at other options, as the cost of producing low-denomination coins is higher than their nominal value. One of the proposals is to change the alloy that these coins are made of to a cheaper one.

Poland A.M.