The Central Bank of Estonia published quarterly figures on cash circulation and cash services for the fourth quarter of 2024, covering euro banknotes and coins issued and returned, ATM withdrawals and deposits, counterfeit detections, and the exchange of Estonian kroons into euros. The update also restated that a rounding rule for cash payments in shops has applied since 1 January 2025. In Q4 2024, the central bank issued 7.8 million banknotes (EUR 266 million) and 3.2 million coins (EUR 1.5 million). Just over half of banknotes issued were EUR 50 notes and banknote issuance was 6% higher year on year, while coin issuance was 28% lower, with one-cent coins representing 21% of coins issued. Returns to the central bank totalled 6.8 million banknotes (EUR 230 million), up 7% year on year, with EUR 50 notes accounting for 40%; 1.8 million unfit banknotes were destroyed and the remainder returned to circulation. Commercial banks returned 6.5 million circulation coins (EUR 1.5 million), up 26% year on year, with two-cent coins representing 25%; the central bank linked Q4 coin flows to a joint coin collection campaign with Omniva under which 3.6 million coins were exchanged in 2024. ATM withdrawals occurred 5.5 million times for EUR 934 million (5% fewer year on year) and cash deposits totalled EUR 520 million (4% lower); Estonia had 662 ATMs at end-2024, including 222 with deposit functionality. The release also reported 191 kroon exchange transactions (EUR 45,703) and estimated unreturned kroons at EUR 43.6 million, alongside 105 counterfeit euro banknotes (mostly EUR 20 and EUR 50) and 46 counterfeit coins detected in Q4. Coins could be exchanged until the end of February at Omniva’s Tallinn Rocca al Mare and Tartu Eeden post offices. Under the rounding rule in force from 1 January 2025, the final cash payment total is rounded to the nearest five cents and rounding applies only to cash payments, reducing the need to give one and two-cent coins as change.

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