Italy: Minting euro cents 'costs four times their value'

MPs have reportedly been grumbling about the price of minting one-cent coins, saying each costs more than four cents to make. Left Ecology Freedom party treasurer Sergio Boccadutri told MPs the margin for larger denominations was not much better - 5.2 cents for each two-cent coin and 5.7 for five-cent pieces - dubbing the whole process "incredible", according to the Rai News 24 TV channel. Boccadutri says his calculations suggest that the state mint has made various cent coins to a total cost of 362m euros since the adoption of the single currency in 2002, even though the coins themselves have a face value of only 174m.

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