The world's lowest value circulating coin

[andyg]

Below is a scan of a coin I picked up this weekend,
this is a 1 Fen or 1/100 of a Yuan from 2007, there are 0.089 Yuan to the £.

Now comparing exchange rates is not the best way of comparing value, another better way of measuring value is to measure purchasing power, for this I used the Big Mac Scale The cost in London is £2.29 (See Here)

So it would take 229 1 pence coins to purchase the big mac.
The cost in China is ¥12.50 so it would take 1250 of these 1 Fen to purchase the same product....

But that's not the end of the story, in Beijing it takes 44 minutes on average to earn a big mac, so were I to work there I would earn 1250 Fen in 44 minutes or 28.4 Fen per minute.
In London it takes just 16 minutes or 14.31 pence per minute, so from this we can deduce that 2 Fen has the same purchasing power as 1 Penny.  So maybe not too small a value after all.

[Figleaf]

Least valuable in the world ... quite a statement.

0.01 Bangladeshi Taka = 0.00009717 Euro

But does it still circulate?

Peter

[asm]

Least valuable in the world ... quite a statement.
0.01 Bangladeshi Taka = 0.00009717 Euro
But does it still circulate?
Peter

In Dhaka, nobody seems to accept anything below the 1 Taka coin. Even this could be rounded off if the amount is close to 3 figures.

Was in Uzbekistan recently where (unofficial) exchange rate was 1900 So'm to 1 US $. Officially they have 1/100 of a So'm ( I forgot the nomenclature) as legal tender. Which will be roughly 0.0000037 Euro.
Asking around, I had difficulty even in getting a 100 So'm note. With great difficulty (almost begging) I picked up a 25 and a 50 So'm coin.
Amit

[Md. Shariful Islam]

Least valuable in the world ... quite a statement.

0.01 Bangladeshi Taka = 0.00009717 Euro

But does it still circulate?

Peter

This is not withdrawn from Bangladesh Bank. So, officially still in circulation. But not in circulation in the money market. But if one goes to Bangladesh Bank for a transaction and if the Bank has to pay fractions like one paisa, then definitely the Bank pays them. Bangladesh Bank also pays five paisa, ten paisa and and more. What we do (other than collectors) is take them and dump them in trash box or give them to kids.

Islam

[ciscoins]

I think that we should distinguish between coins that are actually in circulation, and coins that are not withdrawn from circulation.

- In Russia 1 kopek coins are not officially withdrawn, but they have already disappeared from circulation during the past 1,5 years. And the smallest circulating coin is 10 kopeks (I get 2-3 pieces for change every day). And 1 BigMac costs 75 roubles. So I need 7500 1-kopek coins, and 750 10 kopeks to buy it.

- In Ukraine 1 kopek coins are in real circulation. And 1 BigMac costs 16,50 hryvnias. So you need 1650 kopeks to buy it.

[Bimat]

26 February 2013 Last updated at 00:23 GMT

The coin worth less than any other in the world

By Laura Gray
BBC News

This month the Canadian mint stopped distributing the penny, or one-cent piece, as it costs more to make than it is worth. It's far from being the lowest-value coin around, however. Some central banks are clinging on to coins that are truly "small change".

There are many precedents for scrapping small coins. The US abolished the half-cent in 1857 and the UK's halfpenny was withdrawn in 1984. New Zealand and Australia abandoned the one-cent and two-cent coin in the 1990s.

Now some campaigners in the US and UK want the penny to be scrapped, because nothing can be bought with a one-cent or one-penny coin.

"The point of currency is to facilitate cash transactions. It used to be that a penny could serve that purpose because it was worth something but that's no longer the case" says Jeff Gore, president of Citizens to Retire the US Penny.

Handling them wastes time at tills, he argues - between two and two-and-a-half seconds per cash transaction, according to one study.

Imagine, then, the possible delays if someone in Tanzania insisted in paying for shopping with a pocket-full - or more likely a bag-full - of five-cent coins. One UK penny is equal to 494 of these, while a US cent is equal to 325.

But there are coins, still legal tender, that have even lower value.

Take the Burmese Pya - the UK penny is worth 1,300 of them (the US cent is worth 850).

The lowest-value coin of all is the Tiyin from Uzbekistan. Some 3,038 equate to one UK penny (and 2,000 tot up to one US cent).

In practice, however, while these coins are legal tender, you would struggle to find them in everyday life.

"In Tanzania it's unlikely to find the five-cent coin in circulation because it literally cannot buy anything. The smallest you would probably find in the streets is 20 cents and you can buy a bunch of spinach in the local market for this," says Emanuel Boaz from the Tanzanian Central Bank.

Most five-cent coins in Tanzania languish in the vaults of the central bank or have been lost forever in the nooks and crannies of people's homes.

In Uzbekistan, the Uzbek Tiyin is also a rare sight. These days, you are more likely to get a box of matches or a sweet, as change.

Inflation has consigned even the largest-denomination Tiyin coins to history, though they remain legal tender.

While some countries are happy to get rid of their smallest coins, others are less ready to part with them.

"A lot of people find that they are used to coins - they want that part of their heritage to remain," says Philip Mussell, director of Coin News Magazine.

There is also the fear that scrapping small coins would lead to price inflation and that charities would lose vital funding.

The World Wildlife Fund in the US for example, has received over $490,000 in coin donations made through Coin Star since 2003, proving just how much money can be made by collecting small change.

Officially recalling coins can also be a laborious and lengthy process which some countries are reluctant to undertake, preferring to wait for coins to naturally fall out of circulation.

Emmanuel Boaz from the Tanzanian Central Bank says they have been thinking about withdrawing their five-cent coin.

"The metal that was used was bronze and bronze will probably fetch something in today's market," he says. "We could probably think of selling it."

Source: BBC

[chrisild]

The lowest-value coin of all is the Tiyin from Uzbekistan. Some 3,038 equate to one UK penny (and 2,000 tot up to one US cent).

In practice, however, while these coins are legal tender, you would struggle to find them in everyday life.

Interesting list, thanks for posting this! But I suppose that herein (last quoted sentence) lies the rub. Quite obviously the 1 tiyin coin does not circulate. So while it seems to be the world's lowest value coin, it is not T.W.L.V.C.C.

The "Big Change" list is also interesting. Why do I have that hunch Denmark may phase the 50 øre coin out in the not so distant future ...

Christian

[<k>]

Now some campaigners in the US and UK want the penny to be scrapped, because nothing can be bought with a one-cent or one-penny coin.

The point is not whether your lowest denomination can buy anything (it usually can't), but whether goods are still priced at a level that includes it. Here in the UK, items in the supermarket are still priced down to the penny, yet you will pay 20p or more for a tiny stick of fudge. It seems to me now that the 5p coin, of our inflation-weakened currency, is in real terms worth roughly the same as (or possibly slighter less than) the decimal penny coin when it was first introduced in 1971. When enough people start to think that (and a tipping point will soon be reached, I think), the authorities will react, even if only after a period of up to five years, and then the 1p coin will be demonetised (along with the 2p).

[ciscoins]

Quite obviously the 1 tiyin coin does not circulate.

I think that most, or even all of the coins from this list do not circulate. In Armenia the lowest value in real circulation is 10 dram. In Uzbekistan - 50 som. In Sri Lanka - 25 cents.

I suppose that the lowest value coin in real circulation is 1 Ukrainian kopek: 8,14 kopeks for 1 US cent.

[chrisild]

The point is not whether your lowest denomination can buy anything (it usually can't), but whether goods are still priced at a level that includes it.

Don't quite agree here. In Dutch supermarkets for example it is pretty common to find items that have "x.y8" or "x.y9" prices. When you "check out" and pay with a card, you pay the exact total, which may well be 34.52 or so. Only if you choose cash, that total will be rounded - in this case to 34.50 ...

Doing away with such prices may be a matter of time. Or they may stay in use, like those stupid "mils" at gas stations.

Christian

[paisepagal]

I think in India, the govt is somewhat more responsive... The 50 paise was last issued in 2011...this is because it has practically lost acceptability in the last 5 years ( or even earlier)... So indications are its a matter of a few years before they demonetise it officially. The 25p was last issued in 2004-05 and by mid 2012 it was demonetised.

The uk still has the irritatingly large 2p coin that they keep on issuing, yet no one really wants to deal with them. Thankfully there was an asda near my office at canary wharf where I could dump all my change in this machine... It would calculate the change and spit out 2£/1£/50p coins and keep a small % fee. I was quite happy to get a few commems out of it.