Washington: The US President Donald Trump announced that he has instructed the Treasury Department to cease the minting of new pennies, attributing the decision to the increasing expense of producing the one-cent coin.
According to Kuwait News Agency, Trump expressed his views on the matter in a post on his Truth Social site, emphasizing the financial inefficiency of continuing to produce pennies that cost more than their face value. He stated, "For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful." The idea was initially brought to light by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which raised concerns about the penny's cost in a post on X last month.
In contrast, the US Mint disclosed a loss of USD 85.3 million during the 2024 fiscal year, which concluded in September. This loss was incurred from the production of nearly 3.2 billion pennies, with each penny costing approximately USD 0.037, an increase from USD 0.031 in the previous year.