News in Brief

Coin Rounding Begins in Estonia 

Estonia has officially introduced new rounding rules as of 1 January, with the country also planning to cease minting 1 and 2 cent coins. 

The new law requires all merchants accepting cash to round the final price of the basket of shopping. There will be no rounding for payments made with a bank card. The merchant can choose whether to round upwards or downwards. The prices of individual goods and services will not be rounded, and so the rounding rule should not cause inflation to rise. 

If the customer wants to pay using one and two cent coins, they can as those coins will remain legal tender in Estonia and shops will still have to accept all euro cent coins whatever their value. The law requires shopkeepers to accept up to 50 euro coins at any one go, regardless of their value.