In this period of crisis, particularly in Greece, the news that 240 million euros have ”disappeared” may seem incredible. In fact, the equivalent of this sum in the old currency, 82 billion drachmas, were never exchanged for the new currency when the country joined the Eurozone.
This emerged from a survey carried out by the newspaper Kathimerini. The newspaper explains that the old banknotes have become a real collector’s item. The 10-year period during which drachmas could be exchanged for euros at the Bank of Greece expired on the first of March. When Greece entered the Eurozone – on June 19 2000 after the EU summit in Santa Maria da Feira (Portugal) – the drachma-euro exchange rate was set at 340,75 drachmas for one euro starting from January 1, 2002.
According to the Central Bank of Greece, the possibility of exchanging drachma coins for euros ended on March 1, 2004. Estimates made by various independent sources show that 82 billion drachmas in banknotes, 240 million euros, have never been exchanged. This may seem a high figure, but since January 2002 Greece has exchanged more than 99% of its old currency.
Experts of the Central Bank of Greece say that almost 100% of the higher-value banknotes – like the 10,000 drachma notes – have been exchanged for euros, while people have only held on to the smaller notes – like 50 and 100 drachma notes. Other surveys show that most of these drachma notes are still in the hands of people in Greece, as well as tourists from across the world, who have kept them as “souvenirs”.
In the past two years, between 30 and 40 people per day paid a visit to the Bank of Greece to exchange their remaining drachma notes, for a total value of around 3 million drachmas. According to the data published by Kathimerini, only 45.58% of all drachma coins have been exchanged by Greeks.
(source: ANSA)
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