News in Brief

Trump Calls for End to Penny Production

President Trump’s announcement of a directive to the US Treasury Secretary to cease production of the country’s lowest denomination coin, as part of his mission to cut government expenditure, has reignited the debate in the US about the future of the penny, which has been rumbling on for well over a decade now.

According to the US Mint’s Annual Report for 2024, it currently costs 3.69 cents to produce each circulating penny. These costs have jumped from 2.7 times the face value of the coin in 2022, creeping steadily closer to costing four times as much as the penny is worth. Negative seigniorage currently sits at $85.4 million.

The US Mint produced 3.2 billion cents in 2024, roughly 10 coins per capita. There are approximately a quarter of a trillion 1 cent coins in circulation in the United States, suggesting no shortage of pennies available. But getting them to circulate effectively is a challenge that the US Coin Task Force is still grappling with.