SOUVENIR COINS (Sale at Community Centres)

Mr Teong Eng Siong asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider arranging for souvenir coins, like the 7th SEAP Games $5 silver coins, to be sold in future at the various community centres as this will avoid long queues and waste of time and also enable the rural people to have the opportunity of obtaining such coins.

The Minister for Finance (Mr Hon Sui Sen): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Sembawang's suggestion has been submitted to the Currency Board for consideration along with other similar suggestions which I have also received. However, I ought to say that there are problems of manpower and security involved in selling coins elsewhere than at the Currency Board.

The difficulty about commemorative and other coins not intended for large day-to-day currency circulation is, as with the issue of stamps, to judge exactly what number would be appropriate for each issue. The number must not be too large if their value for collectors is not to be debased. On the other hand, if the number is too limited, we have the problem of long queues and the waste of time referred to by the Member for Sembawang. Perhaps the Board has misjudged the constantly growing number of numismatists and their great enthusiasm for our cleanly struck coins with their interesting designs. If so, I will suggest to them that the number of coins can be somewhat increased without detriment to their interest for collectors.

The Member for Sembawang and other coin enthusiasts can be certain, however, that a policy of limited issue will be maintained to ensure that any slight queueing or time spent will still have been worthwhile.