The European Central Bank has decided to stop producing €500 notes, in a move it depicts as a crackdown on crime but which critics in German-speaking countries say is part of an onslaught on cash and savings.
Top eurozone officials argue that the €500 bill, the euro’s highest denomination note, is the banknote of choice for the darkest parts of the black economy, because it allows drug dealers and terrorists to carry large amounts of cash.
Although the bill accounts for just 2.3 per cent of banknotes in the single currency area, it represents almost 30 per cent of their value.
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