Bulgaria's BGN 2 Coin to Enter Circulation Dec. 7

Bulgaria's central bank announced on Thursday that it will put into circulation a coin with par value of BGN 2 on December 7, 2015.

The two-lev banknotes issues 1999 and 2005 will remain a legal tender alongside the new coin until they wear out and become unfit for circulation.

The new coin will be bigger than the BGN 1 coin and will feature Saint Paisius of Hilendar or Paisiy Hilendarski, a Bulgarian clergyman and a key figure of the Bulgarian National Revival of the 1800s who is also depicted on the BGN 2 note.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has said that the replacement of BGN 2 notes was needed because small-denomination notes were used more intensively in circulation and wore out faster than notes of higher denomination, which increased printing costs per note.