The NBU has extended the deadline for exchanging the small-denomination coins of 1, 2, and 5 kopiikas, which ceased to be legal tender, by one year, to 30 September 2023.
This decision of the NBU is connected with the extension of martial law in Ukraine. Due to the war, many Ukrainians were forced to leave the places of their permanent residence. As a result, only around 665,000 of these small-denomination coins were exchanged in March–June 2022. It is five times less compared to the same period last year (3.3 million coins were exchanged in March–June 2021).
Overall, almost 48 million 1-, 2-, and 5-kopiika coins have been exchanged since they started to be withdrawn from circulation. As of 1 July 2022, almost 5.7 billion of these coins remained in circulation.
Thanks to the one-year deadline extension, Ukrainians, in particular those who were forced to flee their homes due to hostilities, will have more time to exchange the coins of 1, 2, and 5 kopiikas. Moreover, experience of other countries shows that the largest number of coins are withdrawn during the last two months before the end of the exchange period.
Therefore, Ukrainians will be able to exchange the small-denomination coins free of charge and without limitation for circulating coins and banknotes of all denominations, in the amounts divisible by ten kopiikas, at the NBU’s structural units and some branches of authorized banks (Oschadbank JSC, CB PrivatBank JSC, Raiffeisen Bank JSC, FUIB JSC) by 30 September 2023 inclusive.
As a reminder, from 1 October 2019, Ukrainians cannot use 1-, 2-, and 5-kopiika coins for cash settlements. Said coins have ceased to be legal tender and are being withdrawn from circulation. In addition, the NBU is withdrawing from circulation 25-kopiika coins that ceased to be legal tender from 1 October 2020 .
The decision to withdraw said coins from circulation is part of a comprehensive solution adopted by the NBU to optimize denominations of hryvnia banknotes and coins. It will enhance the security and quality of money, while making cash settlements more comfortable and easy.
The decision to extend the deadline for exchanging 1-, 2-, and 5-kopiika coins, which have ceased to be legal tender, to 30 September 2023 was approved by NBU Board Resolution No. 146 On Amendments to NBU Board Resolution No. 82 dated 20 June 2019 dated 14 July 2022, which comes into force on 20 July 2022.