Number of euro banknote forgeries stabilising

The number of counterfeit euro bank-notes in circulation is stabilising, data published by the European Central Bank showed on Thursday.
In the first six months of 2004, a total 307,223 forged noted were pulled out of circulation, the ECB said in a statement. "This figure is of the same magnitude as that for the second half of 2003 when nearly 312,000 counterfeits were recovered," the bank said.
The guardian of the euro that the figures "should be seen in the perspective of the number of genuine bank-notes in circulation, which is around nine billion."
The 50-euro banknote remains the most widely forged note, accounting for 43.6 percent of all counterfeits seized during the period from January to June. It was followed by the 20-euro note which accounted for 28.2 percent of forgeries.