"The Bank secured the quota of banknotes allocated to it under the terms of the agreement signed with the central banks of Austria and Belgium and awarded production to Valora, which delivered 108 million €20 banknotes and 78.4 million 10 euros", reads the "Monetary Issuance Report" for 2022 released by the BdP.

Each of the national central banks in the euro area annually produces a limited number of denominations of euro banknotes, in a quantity corresponding to a share of the total production of the Eurosystem.

"This decentralised production model ensures greater efficiency in the production process and greater uniformity in the quality of banknotes, while the exchange of the various denominations produced between national central banks makes it possible to satisfy the banknote needs of each Member State", explains the BdP.

In Portugal, since the introduction of the euro, the production of euro banknotes has been awarded to Valora, and, under an agreement established in 2018 with the central banks of Austria and Belgium, there was a merger of the production quotas of euro banknotes from the three central banks and the equitable division of this production between Valora and the Austrian printer.

"Until April 2022, demand for banknotes rose, driven by the invasion of Ukraine and the consequent fear of interrupting the normal functioning of payment systems, but this growth was partially offset, from July onwards, by the effect of rising interest rates. European Central Bank interest rate, which raised the opportunity cost of holding this type of asset and, in this way, promoted a greater return of banknotes to central banks", he details.