On Monday at 13.00, euro cash worth 255 million euro and kroon cash worth 250 million euro were in circulation in Estonia.

The euro and the kroon are both valid means of payment until 14 January. Kroons are exchanged for euro at all bank offices dealing with cash until the end of June and a limited number of offices will continue to exchange cash until the end of 2011. From 2012, it is possible to exchange kroons at the official exchange rate and without a service fee at Eesti Pank.

Since 27 December, Eesti Pank has received kroon cash worth 193 million euro. In September 2010, kroon cash worth 570 million euro was in circulation in Estonia.

The central bank has released euro banknotes in the value of 225 million euro and euro coins in the value of 30 million euro.

A detailed overview of the security features of euro banknotes is available on the web site of the ECB. To inform the residents of Estonia, Eesti Pank and the ECB have commissioned TV spots on the security features of euro banknotes. These are aired on Estonia's major TV channels in both Russian and Estonian. The spots are also published on the Euroweb.

In the period 1992-2010, Eesti Pank issued 479 million kroon banknotes and 542 million kroon coins. In order to ensure cash circulation quality, banknotes go through Eesti Pank a number of times. Thus, Eesti Pank issued a total of 1.5 billion banknotes to commercial banks during the time the kroon was Estonia's legal tender.

Further information:
Viljar Rääsk
Public Relations Office
Telephone: +372 668 0745, +372 527 5055
E-mail: [email protected]