SLOVAKS will not need to wait for Slovak euro coins until January 1, 2009, when Slovakia is scheduled to adopt the single European currency. They will have a chance to touch the coins in December 2008 if they buy a starter pack, the Pravda daily wrote.
Similar to most countries that adopted the single currency, the Slovak central bank plans to prepare packs with the full set of euro coins with Slovak motifs on one side.
"The starter pack will contain 38 coins of all nominal values," NBS spokesperson Jana Kováčová told the daily. "The coins will be in a transparent plastic sack."
The packs will value Sk500 (€14.8) and the number of coins will depend on the official exchange rate. The central bank proposes that the packs will be available at banks and post offices.
The euro currency has eight coins. Each adopting country has the right to decorate one side of the coins with their national symbols.
Slovak citizens were able to vote and thus pick motifs for the Slovak euro coins during a competition declared by the central bank in November 2005. The one and two-euro coins will have a Lorraine cross on three hills. The coins of the nominal values of 50, 20 and 10 cents will be decorated with a picture of the Bratislava Castle. The smallest euro coins, with nominal values of 5, 2 and 1 cent, will have the Kriváň peak from the High Tatras on their back side.
Slovakia will mint its euro coins in Kremnica, which already started trail minting the coins in the autumn of 2007. By April the samples must undergo a number of controls before serial production can start. However, the mint can only process the final euro coins after Brussels okays Slovakia's entry into the eurozone.
The national coordination committee has approved the preparation of starter packs and the Slovak cabinet will confirm it sometime in February within the National Plan update for the Euro Adoption in Slovakia.
