LE 1 and 50 piaster coins are interesting novelties but still a hassle CAIRO: When Yehia Mohamed showed a cab driver the newly introduced LE 1 and 50 piaster coins, the driver immediately asked to take them; Mohamed had no option but to hand them to the eager driver. About a month after their introduction to the market in Egypt, the new coins are still not easily found in the capital; people deal with them as novel commodities or collection items. Mohamed, owner of a small grocery store, first got the two coins from a grinning customer who was happy to use them. On June 1, the Ministry of Finance issued the new coins to gradually replace paper notes of LE 1 and 50 piaster denominations within the Egyptian market. About a month later, the effect is still not clear. While owners of big businesses say they haven t felt any effect and don t expect to see any, people in the small retail outlets are not happy with the change. Mohamed notes the difficulty of handling coins. Sitting behind the cashier counter at his shop, he points to a couple of cups filled with 10 and 5 piaster coins. It s difficult and troublesome to do the same with the more commonly used LE 1 and 50 piaster coins, he explains. The difficulty lies in the storage and immediate use, he adds. From afar, the coins look like those of smaller value and thus they need the user s full attention before giving or taking them. It s just a hassle, Mohamed adds. Since the ministry proposed the idea, dismay has prevailed, but for reasons different from Mohamed s. Many tied the fate of the paper pound to that of the 25 piaster paper notes that have been partially replaced by coins. Now both forms continue to co-exist in the market. People believe that by turning a paper note into a coin, its value drops. With the fluctuating devaluation of the Egyptian pound, some social commentators have expressed fears that the change to coins would permanently affirm the devaluation, if not increase it. Samir Radwan, managing director of the Economic Research Forum, says the change won t devalue the pound. He explains that this is different from the change Europe undertook from local currencies to euros. While fears of inflation were proved true later on in Europe, Radwan continues, this might not be the case in Egypt. I personally welcome [the change], he says. The paper note is filthy and helps transfer germs since the pound in the most used currency, he adds. Besides the hygienic nature of the coins in comparison to paper notes, durability is also a favorable element. Coins have a 15-year life span while the average durability of paper notes is six months.
