The COVID-delayed African Currency Forum finally took place two years and a few months later than originally planned in Luxor, Egypt from 15-18 January, attracting 305 delegates from 46 countries, including 25 central banks and state printworks from Africa itself.

Brazil and Argentina, with the two largest economies countries in South America, wish to forge closer ties, including by developing a common currency, according to a joint statement by their presidents.

January 2023 marks the 20th birthday of Currency News™, so we thought we would take a quick tour of the last two decades and provide a back-of-the-envelope analysis of the differences in the cash ecosystem, and issues and priorities, between then and now.

Bulgaria has signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Commission and the Eurozone group president, paving the way for the country to start minting its own euro coins once it receives approval for eurozone membership.

Sustainability as a concept has been best defined by the United Nations Brundtland Commission as 'meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.

A group of organisations from both the coin and banknote sectors have joined forces to support a first-of-its-kind in-depth study into the environmental impact of cash versus digital payments.

There was a palpable sense of optimism as 2021 concluded that – despite disruptions, restrictions, new lockdowns and a virus on the march again – things were finally improving and would start going back to where they were, or at the very least, to somewhere different but nevertheless better than the previous two years.

In November 2022, Algeria’s central bank, the Banque d’Algérie, issued a new 2,000 dinar banknote to commemorate 60 years of Algerian independence and to mark the occasion of the 31st Summit of the League of Arab States, which was hosted in Algiers.

The new look of banknotes featuring the image of King Charles has been unveiled by the Bank of England. The portrait will be the only change to existing designs of £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes and will start to enter circulation from mid 2024.

The BEAC (Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale) has now introduced its new series of banknotes, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its foundation.

A review of this year's headlines.

In the full year, only three markets were less than 10% lower compared with the beginning of the year, eight lost between 10% and 20%, and three lost between 20% and 30%.

The European Union has announced a set of new directives to limit the amount of cash and crypto transactions in a move, it says, that will crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing.

Digimarc Corporation has announced a five-year extension of its agreement with the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, comprising 35 of the world’s central banks.

Kusters, a family-owned company founded in 1911, has been at the forefront of destruction and shred handling equipment for both banknotes and coins since the 1970s, and has an installed base of more than 700 systems in various applications in over 80 countries.

Crane Currency has inaugurated a new filtration system that will reduce water consumption by as much as 500,000 cubic meters per year and remove more cotton fibres for reuse in paper production at its paper mill in Tumba, Sweden.

Len Olijar, Director of the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, is retiring after more than 34 years with the organisation.

CCL Secure has won an Energy Management Award, together with its sustainability partner Verco, at the 23rd Energy Institute Awards ceremony, which was held on 23 November in London.

Nominations have opened for the 17th round of the ‘Excellence in Currency Awards’ run by IACA (the International Association of Currency Affairs) and sponsored by Currency News™.

The Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) has approved De La Rue’s near-term science-based emissions reduction target.