Don’t worry, the Croatian kuna isn’t being phased out in time for the euro’s introduction just yet, but there are several old Croatian banknotes, some (but not all) of which might look no different to the usual ones you spend, that are actually no longer legal tender in Croatia.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of June, 2019, the Croatian banknotes you need to be checking your wallets, jacket pockets and the crevices of your sofa are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 kuna notes which bear the date of issue as October the 31st, 1993 and January the 15th, 1995, according to vijesti.hr.
While these dates are now a long time ago and you might think that plain old paper banknotes might not have survived for that length of time, it has been reported that as many as nine million and 600,000 kuna worth of kuna banknotes are still in circulation within the country, and as Vecernji list states, it’s possible that you have them in your wallet, or under your bed as the case may be.
If you happen to have any of the banknotes mentioned above, you can freely exchange it at the Croatian National Bank (HNB/CNB). In just one year, from the 31st of May, 2018 to the 31st of May this year, the bank received as many as 38,500 of these various now illegal banknotes from people in various denominations.
The 10 kuna bills bearing the issue date on October the 31st, 1993 ceased to be a legal instrument of payment on April the 1st, 2001. Yet according to the data of the Croatian National Bank, as of May the 31st, 2019, as many as 699,153 of these old notes are still in circulation. Of those with the date of issue being January the 15th, 1995, there are stil 2,353,407 out there somewhere.
The 20 kuna banknotes bearing the issue date of October the 31st, 1993 ceased to be legal tender on April the 1st, 2007. There are still 1,735,062 of these banknotes in circulation, even though they haven’t been legal tender for a very long time now.
The situation with the other banknotes mentioned above is similar, so if you see that you have any with the date of issue being October the 31st, 1993, make sure to take them to a bank and exchange them for legal notes free of charge.
Invalid banknotes can be delivered by post to the following address: The Croatian National Bank, Treasury Department, Trg hrvatskih velikana 3, 10002, Zagreb, or, they can be taken in person to the Croatian National Bank at Franjo Rački 5, Zagreb, Croatia.
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