Mexico aims to shrink coins 

Mexico wants to shrink the size of some of its coins and use stainless steel to make them instead of copper, zinc and nickel alloys, which have hit record prices in recent months.

President Felipe Calderon sent a bill to Congress this week proposing to slightly reduce the diameter of centavo coins and stop making them from the more expensive metals. Stainless steel also would be used in some peso coins.

Bulging wallets and pockets jangling with coins are common in Mexico where everyday purchases, from bus fares to tacos, are often paid for with small denominations like 10 pesos instead of larger bills.

The use of metal coins has increased by about 6% annually in Mexico, the government says.

Calderon wants to "reduce production costs for the minting of coins, using a different metal - stainless steel - whose price has shown more stability than other metals," the proposal says.

Some metal prices soared to record highs earlier in the year but took a dive this month as jittery investors, fearing a global recession, pulled money out of commodities markets.

Mexican coins come in denominations of pesos and the less valuable centavos. The Calderon plan would cut the size of 10-, 20- and 50-centavo coins, and use cheaper metal in pesos and some centavos.

Mexico's economic growth, dependent on exports to the United States, is slowing down due to the world financial crisis.

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