You're reading: NBU decides to introduce 2-, 5- and 10-hryvnia coins to replace banknotes

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will present coins of new denominations – two, five and 10 hryvnias, as well as a new one-hryvnia coin on March 14.

“In future, the coins will replace banknotes of corresponding denominations, which are now in circulation,” the NBU said in a statement on March 12 evening.

Ukrainians will be able to use coins and banknotes of the same denominations simultaneously until the coins replace the banknotes gradually, the regulator said.

NBU indicates that the replacement of domestic currency series is a planned measure and it started with a 100-hryvnia banknote of the 2014 design, which was put into circulation on March 9, 2015.

Currently, the largest denomination of the coin used for payment in Ukraine is one hryvnia.

In the middle of November 2017, the NBU announced it was considering the possibility of withdrawing one kopeck (kopiyka), two kopecks, five kopecks, and 25 kopecks from circulation. The NBU said only 10 kopecks and 50 kopecks might remain in circulation, and rounding off would be used in payment for commodities and services.

One-kopiyka coin is a circulation coin of the smallest denomination now. It is one hundredth part of the monetary unit of Ukraine, the hryvnia. Small coins of denominations worth 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 and 50 kopecks were put into circulation on September 2, 1996.