Monetary policy Proposal to abolish cent coins in Germany
Certain euro countries have already largely dispensed with small cent coins. Now Germany is also considering doing away with the "pennies".
11.03.2025, 11:49
SDA
They accumulate in your wallet, but you can't buy much with them. Now they are also to disappear in the small cent coins. Cash payments should then be rounded up or down to the nearest five euro cents. At least that is the proposal of the "National Cash Forum" initiated by the German Bundesbank, in which the retail trade, banking associations, cash-in-transit companies and consumer protection organizations are represented.
"The Federal Ministry of Finance is asked to advocate for a statutory rounding rule in Germany and to push this forward," reads a statement published by the Bundesbank. "The rounding rules should be as uniform as possible in Europe."
If such a regulation is introduced for Germany, this would mean in practice that a cash payment of 4.99 euros, for example, would then be charged at 5 euros instead of 1.02 euros.
Small coins too expensive
"Overall, the economic and ecological costs of producing, packaging and transporting one and two-cent coins are high in relation to their face value," said Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz, explaining the proposal. "If we did away with the circulation of one and two-cent coins, cash would become more attractive for users. It would also make the cash cycle more sustainable and efficient."
The "National Cash Forum", founded in February 2024 on Balz's initiative, has set itself the goal of securing cash as a widely used means of payment and keeping it available.
Rounding is already taking place in a number of countries
Some euro countries are already trying to get by without the smallest cent coins. However, they have not been completely abolished there either. This could only be decided at European level.
In Finland, for example, cash payments are rounded by law to the nearest five cent amount - i.e. from 14.97 euros to 14.95 euros. Although one and two-cent coins are not put into circulation there, they are still considered legal tender. A store in Finland only does not have to accept them if it indicates this separately. Similar regulations exist in the Netherlands, Slovakia, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Estonia.
