News in Brief

Coin Drought Returns in the US

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has gone public encouraging people to use coins and to return them into the cash cycle. After the coin hiatus last year, which saw the formation of the Coin Taskforce and limits on the issue of coins to retailers and institutions, the situation had eased with the limits lifted and normal service resuming.

However, in May those limits had to be reintroduced. In March the new US administration sent out a further round of stimulus payments. The Federal Reserve believes these meant low-income families no longer needed to use coins to pay bills. In addition, higher consumer spending increased transactional coin demand. This, and the threat of the delta variant of COVID-19 which may keep shoppers at home, seems to have created the new shortages.