Central Banks and Cash Round-Up

The focus for this month’s summary of news from central bank annual reports and other sources is Central and South America, specifically Belize, Brazil and Honduras.

Central Bank of Belize (CBB)

Cash in circulation: in 2024 a new series was unveiled, produced by De La Rue, with banknotes of BZD (Belize dollar) in denominations of $2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. The new notes went into circulation in August.

Currency in circulation rose by 7.5% to BZD 738.1 million in FY 24, driven by similar increases in both banknotes (BZD 691.6 million) and coins (BZD 46.5 million). The most common banknotes were the $50 (23%) and $2 (19.8%). Banknotes made up 93.7% of currency, with coins at 6.3%, both unchanged from 2023.

Domestic banks’ vault holdings fell to BZD 92.5 million, while currency held by the public grew by BZD 57.9 million to BZD 645.6 million, or 87.5%.

Banco Central do Brasil (BCB)