Eesti Pank issued 9.3 million banknotes into circulation in the third quarter of this year with a total value of 309 million euros, and 5.8 million coins with a total value of 2.1 million euros. Half of the banknotes that the central bank issued in the third quarter were 50-euro notes. The number and total value of banknotes issued were essentially the same as in the previous quarter.

There were 7.6 million banknotes with a total value of 264 million euros returned to Eesti Pank in the third quarter. The banknote returned most commonly was the 50-euro note, which accounted for 42% of all the banknotes returned, and the number of notes returned was 13% higher than in the previous quarter. The sorting process saw the destruction of 0.98 million banknotes that were unfit for circulation, and the rest were returned to circulation.

The coin most commonly issued by the central bank in the third quarter of 2024 was the one-cent coin, which was 26% of all the coins issued into circulation. The commercial banks returned 1.5 million circulation coins with a total value of 0.32 million euros to Eesti Pank in the third quarter. The coins returned most were two-cent coins, which made up 27% of all the coins returned.

One and two-cent coins will start to disappear gradually from circulation from 2025 though, because the rounding rule will start to apply from 1 January. One and two-cent coins are mainly given out as change in shops, but they then remain in people’s pockets or wallets as they are rarely used again for making payments. However, the costs of producing and handling one and two-cent coins and their environmental impact are disproportionately large relative to their value. The rounding rule means that shops will no longer give back one and two-cent coins as change, and so they will no longer have any need for them, and there will be no further need to keep producing them. From the start of the new year, the price of a basket of shopping paid for in cash will be rounded to the nearest five cents, and so the smallest coin needed for change will be the five-cent coin. Read more about the rounding rule on the Eesti Pank website.

Cash was withdrawn from ATMs on 5.9 million occasions in the third quarter, for a total value of around 967 million euros. There were about 6% fewer withdrawals of cash than in the same period of last year. Cash deposits of 533 million euros were made in the third quarter, which is 6% less than a year previously.

At the end of the third quarter there were 669 ATMs in Estonia. Cash transactions could be made at 21 bank offices as well as in ATMS, and there are some 700 shop tills across Estonia from which cooperation between the banks and points of sale allows cash to be withdrawn.

Coins can be paid into bank accounts using coin machines at ten bank offices across Estonia. Coins can also be exchanged until the end of February 2025 in the Tallinn Rocca al Mare and Tartu Eeden post offices operated by Omniva.

Exchanging Estonian kroons for cash

Eesti Pank continues to exchange Estonian kroons in notes and coins for euros. There were 220 exchange transactions with kroons in the third quarter of this year at a value of 58,354 euros. There are still an estimated 28.4 million kroon banknotes, worth 37 million euros, and 319.5 million coins, worth 6.7 million euros, that have not been returned from circulation, making a total value of 43.7 million euros. Interest in exchanging kroons for euros has been very low in recent years.

Eesti Pank expert analysis of cash

Eesti Pank exchanges damaged euro banknotes and coins. Expert analysis of cash was carried out 63 times in the third quarter as 2463 banknotes were examined for authenticity and were classed as damaged notes where appropriate. Banknotes are exchanged when more than half of them remains. Damaged banknotes are removed from circulation and are destroyed.

The Estonian Forensic Science Institute registered 304 counterfeit euro banknotes in Estonia in the third quarter, the majority of which were 20 and 50-euro notes. At 245, a large majority of the counterfeit notes registered in the third quarter were identified in a single case in August. All businesses, and indeed all people, that use cash should be careful and attentive with all banknotes. It is also wise to be careful when paying in cash while travelling abroad. There were also 40 counterfeit coins discovered in the third quarter.

•    Estonian kroon banknotes and coins can be exchanged for euros at the shop of the Eesti Pank Museum during its opening hours from Tuesdays to Fridays 12.00–17.00 and Saturdays 11.00–16.00.
•    Damaged banknotes can be submitted for expert analysis by contacting a bank or the Eesti Pank museum shop.

Further information:

Hanna Jürgenson
Communications
Eesti Pank
+372 5692 0930
[email protected] 
Press enquiries: [email protected]