Cash in Circulation Reaches Lv 21,241.0 Mln by End of 2020

At the end of December 2020, circulating currency reached 21,241.0 million leva, up by 2,136.1 million, or 11.2 per cent, from the end of December 2019, the Bulgarian National Bank reported. The increase was 10.2 per cent, year-on-year.

In the last quarter of 2020, the cash in circulation increased by 1,356.7 million leva, or 6.8 per cent, compared with end-September. The increase was 2.4 percentage points higher than the like period in 2019. The biggest increase of cash in circulation within the last quarter of 2020 was reported in December, 929.1 million leva, 4.6 per cent more than in November.

At the end of December 2020, the share of banknotes in the total  value of circulating currency was 97.71 per cent.

The average value of a circulating banknote at the close of 2017  was 37.89 leva, up 0.21 leva for the last quarter of the year and 0.95 leva (2.6 per cent) from the end of December 2019, reflecting a faster growth of 50 and 100 leva banknotes in cash circulation.

By the end of December 2020, the share of regular-issue coins in  the value of circulating currency was 2.28 per cent. The average value of a circulating regular-issue coin at the close of 2020 was 0.18 leva, unchanged from the end of December 2019.

The banknotes circulating by the end of December 2020 numbered 547.7 million, up by 32.7 million (6.3 per cent) from the end of  September 2020.

The 50 leva banknote took up the largest share in the number of circulating banknotes at the end of 2020, with 177.3 million notes in circulation.

For a period of one year, the number of circulating banknotes increases by 43.3 million, or 8.6 per cent, while their value grew by 2,118.3 million leva, or 11.4 per cent. The trend persisted of a growing share of high-denomination banknotes of 50 and 100 leva in the cash in circulation.

A total of 2,722.1 million regular-issue coins were circulating at the end of 2020, up by 123.4 million coins or 4.7 per cent from the end of December 2019. During the same period, the total  value of the regular-issue coins in circulation grew by 24.1 million leva (5.2 per cent).

At 790.5 million coins, 1 stotinka (0.01 leva) coins were the most numerous among circulating regular-issue coin denominations  by December 31, 2020, representing the largest share in the total number of regular-issue coins (29.04 per cent).

In the last quarter of 2020, a total of 213 circulating counterfeit Bulgarian banknotes reached BNB's National Centre for Analysis, increasing by 59 from the preceding quarter. A total of 184 counterfeit euro banknotes were caught, 36 US dollar banknotes, and six banknotes in other foreign currencies.