Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Bank of Cape Verde (BCV) today launched a campaign to encourage the use of escudo coins, the archipelago’s currency, which have been scarce in daily transactions in the country for several months.
The central bank wants to “awaken the population to the importance of removing stored coins, to increase the supply of cash, facilitate change, reduce public spending on replacing coins and the impact on the environment”, it announced in a statement.
The campaign includes Internet videos and media messages.
Cape Verde has 68.9 million coins in circulation, explained the BCV, which issues 2.3 million coins annually.
“The proportion of coins in relation to total money (banknotes and coins) in Cape Verde is approximately 3.5%, in line with international parameters”, he added.
In a statement to the Lusa news agency in September, bus drivers, salespeople, taxi drivers and customers were trying to deal with the shortage of coins, which causes daily disruption. As they described, the problem generates heated discussions and causes losses for some, due to the impossibility of delivering change in transactions.
Some establishments offer sweets to replace lower denomination coins, while salespeople complain about losing business.
The BCV announced a study on the use of the currency, in addition to the campaign that begins now, and also indicated that it was unaware of theories that are circulating to try to justify the shortage – such as an alleged foundry of coins in the country –, but said it maintained “close coordination” with the Judicial Police, with a view to investigating possible illicit practices.
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