The first coins called “kopiika”, which will replace the usual Ukrainian “kopiika”, are likely to be in circulation in the first half of 2025. This was was announced by nBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi in an interview with LIGA.net, reports [Kommersant].
“If the parliament supports our initiative this year, we will be able to get steps in circulation in the first half of 2025. As for the denomination, this is a separate issue that we are constantly analysing, taking into account the circulation of coins, but there is no such decision yet,” Pyshny said.
The NBU Governor reminded that immediately after Ukraine regained its independence in spring 1992, the possibility of returning the shah to the Ukrainian currency circulation was discussed. The Luhansk Machine Tool Plant received sketches of 1, 5, 10, and 25 shah coins from Kyiv. But the idea was not implemented at that time.
Pyshnyi added that the name of the currency is a matter of principle. After all, every manifestation of a country’s individuality, independence and uniqueness is important. Therefore, the introduction of “steps” instead of “kopiykas” is appropriate and “timely” given the political situation.
The head of the financial regulator also assured that replacing kopiykas with shygas would not put an additional burden on the state budget. After all, in 2025, it is already planned to mint about 20 million 50 kopiika coins to replace those in circulation.
“If a decision is made on the steps, we will simply make the necessary adjustments and start minting 50 steps. We are technologically ready for this,” Pyshnyi said.
He explained that there should be no fear of inflation due to the minting of a new coin.
“We are not increasing the money supply in circulation. There are currently about 1 billion 350 million 50 kopeck change coins in circulation, so minting 20 million to replace some of them will not affect the money supply,” Pyshnyi explained.
