A total of 437 counterfeit banknotes of all currencies were detected and withdrawn from circulation from January to December 2022, a decrease of 45.8 percent from 2021, with counterfeit euro banknotes accounting for 59.5 percent and kuna banknote counterfeits accounting for 30.4 percent, the Croatian Central Bank said on Thursday.

Last year, 260 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation, which is an increase of 14.0 percent from the previous year, when 228 counterfeit banknotes were withdrawn. 50-euro banknotes accounted for the largest number of counterfeit euro banknotes withdrawn from circulation (37.3 percent).

Despite the slight increase in the amount of counterfeit euro banknotes in the last two years, their number last year was considerably smaller than, for example, in 2016, when 897 counterfeits were identified, or in 2019, when their number reached as much as 4,280, according to the Croatian Central Bank (HNB).

A total of 133 counterfeit kuna banknotes were detected in 2022, which is 32.8 percent fewer than in 2021, when 198 counterfeits were withdrawn from circulation. The most frequently counterfeited domestic currency denominations were 200-kuna banknotes, with 47 detected counterfeits, and 1000-kuna banknotes, with 46 detected counterfeits.

The number of counterfeit kuna banknotes had been on the decline for years, and the largest number of counterfeits in the last 10 years was recorded in 2015, namely 519 of them.

Among other counterfeit banknotes withdrawn from circulation last year, counterfeit US dollar banknotes accounted for 8%, British pound sterling banknotes for 8.0% and Swedish krona banknotes for 0.2%.

A total of 2,025 counterfeit coins were also withdrawn from circulation in 2022, all of which were euro coins. It was a decrease of 74.9% compared with 2021, when 8,074 counterfeit euro coins were withdrawn. 2-euro coins accounted for the largest number of coins withdrawn from circulation last year, namely 1,969.

“Counterfeits registered in 2022 did not cause any significant financial damage, nor did their quantity and production quality cause any disturbances in cash operations in specialised institutions or among the general public,” the HNB said. It “calls upon the public to be on heightened alert and upon institutions and companies dealing with cash to comply with EU regulations, decisions of the European Central Bank and the CNB decision on the control of authenticity and fitness checking of euro cash.”