The Central Bank of Malta will be issuing its first e2 commemorative coin tomorrow.

The coin commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Economic and Monetary Union. Each euro area country will be issuing a similar coin bearing the same design but with the name of the country and the legend “EMU 1999-2009” shown in the respective language.

The Maltese euro coin will have the legend “UEM 1999-2009”, where the letters UEM stand for “Unjoni Ekonomika u Monetarja”

The deliberately primitive design of the coin symbolizes the euro as the latest step in the long history of trade up to the formation of economic and monetary union. It was created by George Stamatopoulos, a sculptor in the minting department at the Bank of Greece.

The coin will be available for sale in rolls of 25 coins each at a price of e57.75 per roll, inclusive of VAT. Purchases can be made from the counters of the Malta Coin Distribution Centre at the Central Bank of Malta, Castile Place, Valletta, as from tomorrow. A number of coins will also be issued in normal circulation as from the same date.