The report describes the activities of the central bank within the scope of issuing notes and coins, explaining that BdP notes produced correspond to the share of notes allocated to it to produce within the scope of the agreement with the central banks of Austria and the Belgium.

As for banknotes put into circulation by the Bank of Portugal, this value remained negative in 2023 (-24.7 billion euros) and fell 17.8% compared to the end of 2022. 6,372.7 million left the Bank of Portugal of euros in banknotes and 10,113.6 million euros entered.

The BdP justifies the negative net issuance with the growth of tourism (as tourists bring banknotes that are not absorbed by demand) and the rise in interest rates from the European Central Bank (which disincentivizes holding banknotes).

Net issuance of coins continued to grow, reaching 791.6 million euros at the end of the year.

At a global level, the number of euro banknotes and coins in circulation reached historic highs at the end of 2023, with 29.8 billion banknotes and 148.2 billion coins, which for the BdP "confirms that cash continues to be the most used means of payment by euro area citizens".

Even so the value of euro banknotes in circulation decreased for the first time since the introduction of the single currency, standing at 1.6 billion euros, 0.3% less than at the end of 2022, reflecting the rise of ECB interest rates.

As for counterfeits, in 2023, 16,723 counterfeit banknotes and 3,197 counterfeit coins were removed from circulation in Portugal. These data were already known and the BdP says that, in both cases, they correspond to "tiny percentages of the number of genuine notes and coins in circulation".

Last year, the BdP changed the rules for depositing and withdrawing notes and coins in its treasuries to encourage direct exchange between banks and cash transport companies. The central bank states that this was why "withdrawals and deposits of funds at Banco de Portugal fell sharply".