Could sterling currency require reissue?

The currency exchange value of the pound could be hit if consumer confidence in the UK's coinage continues to fall.

A report in the Daily Telegraph has revealed that there is �41 million worth of fake �1 coins in circulation.

Andrew Rosindell, the economic secretary to the Treasury, told the paper: "This has a huge effect on confidence in our currency. Clearly the one pound coin is something the Royal Mint needs to reconsider.

"Even one in a hundred fake coins is too many. The effect on consumers has to be a major consideration."

A similar problem has previously been seen in South Africa with the country's five rand coin.

Taxi drivers and shopkeepers refused to accept the denomination, prompting the coin to be reissued in 2004.

However, the news source said that the quality of fakes is so good that the problem in the UK is not on the same scale.

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Posted by Sarah Pitton