December 24, 2025, 11:07 amDecember 24, 2025, 11:07 am
The Euro countries club gets a 21st member. Bulgaria’s accession on January 1, 2026 will increase the production of coins in the common currency area.
Coin production of around 1.9 billion euros is planned for 2026. (symbol image) Image: AP
The European Central Bank (ECB) has approved the production of coins with a total volume of over 2.4 billion euros for the 20 euro states and Bulgaria.
In recent years, the annual volume of newly minted euro coins has generally hovered around two billion euros. The central bank had approved a volume of around 2.17 billion euros for 2025. The expansion of the Eurozone in 2023 with Croatia’s accession caused an increase to a good 2.6 billion euros.
Of the coin production planned for the coming year, a volume of around 1.9 billion euros is intended for daily use. There are also collector coins worth just over 511 million euros.
Bulgaria plans to produce coins worth more than 164 million euros
Euro newcomer Bulgaria, the 21st country in the group of countries with the common currency, is planning coins totaling just over 164 million euros – almost exclusively for everyday use.
Every year, the ECB sets an upper limit for the total volume of coin issuance in the currency area based on the needs reported by the euro states. Within this framework, the countries are then allowed to have coins minted.
The digital euro is scheduled to be introduced in 2029. (symbol image)Image: KEYSTONE
Concerns that cash will be abolished are repeatedly countered by the euro’s currency watchdogs: The ECB is working on a digital euro that could be introduced in 2029. However, this should not be a replacement, but rather a supplement to notes and coins, so that consumers have a European alternative to the currently dominant US providers Paypal, Mastercard, Visa and Co. when making digital payments.
Rounding regulations in euro countries
And even the one and two cent coins, which are comparatively expensive to produce, continue to be produced in Germany – unlike in the USA, where production of the local one cent coin, the “penny”, was stopped in November for cost reasons after more than 230 years. Companies in the US are required to round prices up or down to the nearest coin – five cents.
Such rounding regulations already exist in many euro countries. For example, in Finland, by law, cash payments are rounded to the nearest five cent amount. Similar regulations exist in the Netherlands, Slovakia, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Estonia. (sda/dpa)
You might also be interested in these articles: