Norway’s central bank (Norges Bank) was sending out reminders this week that its old 50- and 500-kroner notes are about to be withdrawn from circulation. Merchants will be under no obligation to accept them as legal tender after October 18.
These are the latest Norwegian currency notes to be taken out of circulation on October 18. PHOTO: Norges Bank
The bank urged the public to either spend them or deposit them into bank accounts. Only the central bank itself will swap them for new bills after October 18, 2019.
“Banks and others will of course be free to accept them even after the expiration date, and we saw many examples of that when the old 100- and 200-kroner notes expired last year,” stated Leif Veggum, director of cash at Norges Bank. “The simplest is to simply spend them this week.”
The central bank estimated there was still around NOK 4.6 billion (USD 500 million) worth of the 50- and 500-kroner notes in circulation, “so we hope folks will take an extra look inside drawers and cupboards to see if they have any of the cash lying around,” Veggum said.
Next to disappear sometime next year will the the NOK 1,000 notes. They’re due to be replaced by the end of this year by the last denomination in the new series of Norwegian currency that was first introduced in 2017 and which features various aspects of the sea and maritime culture in Norway.
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