People encouraged to exchange coins to banknotes

BANGKOK, April 7 (TNA) - As more than 10 per cent of total coins produced by the Thai Ministry of Finance have been left at people's houses and, a private firm will be soon authorised to exchange coins to banknotes for the holders. Chakkrit Parapantakul, Director-General of the ministry's Treasury Department, told journalists of the policy on April 6, noting that coins, worth about 54 billion baht, have been produced by his department and circulated in the domestic market, but they remains insufficient because holders prefer to leave the coins at their homes. Chakkrit said after learning how to solve the problem overseas, his department will then authorise a private company to set up calculating machines at local shopping malls and commercial banks, through which coin holders can change their coins. The senior official explained that coin holders will receive a slip showing how much money in banknotes they would receive and they could receive the money later. The senior official assessed that the plan seems to be efficient because certain coins of the Thai currency contain less face value than their production costs. (TNA)