New coronavirus challenge in America: a shortage of coins

The coronavirus crisis in United States has reached the next level as banks across the country are facing acute shortage of coins during the pandemic that prompted the U.S. Federal Reserve to ration distribution and work with the U.S. Mint to boost supply.

The Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday told the House Financial Services Committee that “the flow of coins through the economy has kind of stopped” with the partial closure of the economy due to the coronavirus crisis.

Making matters worse, the U.S. Mint has decreased production of coin due to precautions put in place to protect its employees from the deadly infection.

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“We are working with the Mint and the Reserve Banks and as the economy reopens we are seeing coins beginning to move around again,” Powell said.

Powell made the remarks while responding to a question from Tennessee Congressman John Rose, who said a bank in his district told him it would run out of coins by the end of the week because the Fed was only sending a portion of its usual order of coins.