Furthermore, imperfect competition and associated price rigidities across countries may also have been a factor. If we look at product groups, there has been a relatively higher price dispersion in the area of services. This is probably associated with the dispersion in wage developments in the services sector. By contrast, inflation dispersion has been relatively low for tradable non-energy industrial goods.
It is therefore clear that the problem of inadequacy of coins in circulation cannot be addressed by adding new coins but by ensuring that there is an efficient mechanism for recirculating existing coins within the economy.