KEY POINTS:
A large proportion of old currency is still out there and not expected to return any time. Only 39 per cent of the bigger, heavier coins in use until July last year have found their way back to Reserve Bank coffers.
Head of currency Alan Boaden says that $1 billion of new coins had been issued and as of last week, $353 million of the old currency had been recovered.
People had three months to use the old coins before they ceased to be legal tender. The change did not affect $1 and $2 coins.
The bank has seen 26 per cent of the now-deleted 5c coins back, 39 per cent of the 10c, 49 per cent of the 20c and 60 per cent of the 50c coins, which Mr Boaden says is broadly comparable to what happened in Europe when the euro was introduced. He was surprised only 60 per cent of the valuable 50c coins came back.
He suspects that much of the missing money has either been lost or taken out of the country by tourists.
- NZPA
