In Serbia, during the first half of 2024, authorities detected a total of 1,539 counterfeit banknotes, as reported by the National Bank of Serbia. Among these, 849 were in the local currency, dinars, and 455 were in euros. Additionally, there were 234 counterfeit US dollars and one German mark banknote identified during this period, according to the Report on Discovered Counterfeit Banknotes.
The total nominal value of these counterfeit banknotes amounted to 7,148,338.17 dinars. The largest share was attributed to counterfeit euro banknotes, totaling 4,578,487.44 dinars (64.05%), followed by domestic currency counterfeits amounting to 1,503,700.00 dinars (21.04%), US dollars totaling 1,006,310.63 dinars (14.08%), and German marks amounting to 59,840.10 dinars (0.84%).
In terms of quantity, counterfeit banknotes predominantly consisted of denominations of 2,000 dinars (72.32%), followed by 500 dinars (11.66%) and 1,000 dinars (11.07%). Together, these three denominations accounted for 95.05% of all detected counterfeit banknotes. In terms of value, the majority were in denominations of 2,000 dinars (81.67%) and 5,000 dinars (8.65%).
The detection rate was reported as approximately 1.44 counterfeit banknotes per one million original banknotes in circulation. This translates to the discovery of 3,209.10 dinars of counterfeit money per one billion dinars in circulation. Notably, the report also highlighted the discovery of 78 counterfeit US $100 bills during the same period.
These findings underscore ongoing efforts to combat counterfeit currency in Serbia, with continued vigilance and monitoring by financial authorities to maintain the integrity of the national currency and foreign exchange markets.
