BERLIN, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of counterfeit euro banknotes in circulation in Germany has declined so far this year, official figures published on Friday by the German Central Bank (Bundesbank) showed.
The Frankfurt-based institute revealed that German authorities seized 31,100 counterfeit notes with a total nominal value of 1.8 million euros (2.1 million U.S. dollars) between January and June 2018. The figure marked a decline by 6.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
"Statistically, this equates to around seven counterfeit banknotes for every 10,000 inhabitants per year," a statement by Johannes Beermann, a member of the Bundesbank's Executive Board, read.
During the first half of 2018, 50-euro notes were the most popular targets of forgers, accounting for 72 percent of all counterfeit notes discovered in Germany, far ahead of fake 20-euro notes.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is currently in the process of replacing the first series of notes for the single currency introduced with a new "Europe" series with enhanced security features. As a consequence, the Bundesbank expects the number of euro forgeries to continue to fall within the coming years.
"The number of 50-euro counterfeit notes is likely to decrease the more bank notes of the first series are replaced by the new Europe series," Beermann said. A similar development was observed by German authorities when the first series of 20-euro banknotes was phased out. The Bundesbank executive noted that over 80 percent of fake 50 notes discovered in Germany still belonged to the old series.
New 50-euro notes were first brought into circulation in the eurozone in April 2017 after the earlier introduction of new 20-euro notes in November 2015. The ECB plans to replace the current series of 100-euro and 200-euro notes within the first six months of 2019.
The euro was created in the culmination of a long-standing process of European integration in the areas of economic and monetary policy in 1998. It currently serves as the single currency of 19 of the 28-member state of the European Union (EU) with a combined population of over 341 million.