Hundreds of million 500 euro notes in circulation

Hundreds of million 500 euro notes in circulation

A good one and a half years after the end of the 500-euro note, over 300 million banknotes issued by the Bundesbank with a value of around 150 billion euros are still in circulation. This is what the newspapers of the Funke media group report, citing a response from the Federal Ministry of Finance to a request from FDP financial expert Markus Herbrand. Accordingly, when the banknote was last issued at the end of April 2019, 350 million notes with a value of around 175 billion euros were in circulation. "The available figures show that the 500-euro note will probably be in circulation for a long time to come," said Herbrand. He sees no trend for an increased exchange of the 500 for other banknotes. The European Central Bank (ECB) had decided that the production and issuance of the 500 euro banknote would cease. The 500s in circulation remain legal tender and can be exchanged at the national central banks in the euro area without any time limit. Proponents of the foregoing 500 euro note promise that terrorist financing and illegal work will be pushed back. Experts doubted this. According to the report, the Bundesbank was unable to precisely quantify how many notes are now slumbering in safes in Germany - it estimates a value of 25 to 35 percent.