THE central bank yesterday announced that a coloured commemorative circulation coin will be issued in early 2017 to commemorate the Fiji rugby sevens men’s team’s magnificent gold medal win at the Rio Olympics 2016.

The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) governor, Barry Whiteside, said the RBF board of directors had, at its July 2016 meeting, approved the minting of a coloured commemorative circulation coin in limited quantities should Fiji win a gold medal at the Rio Olympics.

This, Mr Whiteside said, would be the first coloured commemorative circulation coin for Fiji.

The governor said design work was being finalised.

“Together with the production time, which is dependent on availability of a slot with the mint, actual completion of the coin could take around six months,” he said yesterday.

“It is therefore expected that this coloured commemorative circulation coin will be issued in the first quarter of 2017,” he said.

Mr Whiteside said only a limited quantity of the coloured commemorative circulation coin would be minted, which means that it would fast become a collector’s item for the general public.