Either the Spanish people are a very funny lot or else, there is a lot of black money around here in Spain. The Banco de España let it be known that the old Peseta banknotes are still valid, almost eight years after the Spanish currency was replaced by the Euro. According to the Spanish National Bank, there are still something like 155,000,000,000 Pesetas (to the value of 932,000,000 €) in banknotes stashed away under Spanish mattresses or wherever, plus a slightly smaller amount in old Peseta coins.

This staggering amount of paper money, but not the coins, can still be exchanged at the rate of 166.368 at any local branch of the Banco de España of which there is one in Palma de Mallorca. I believe that no questions will be asked as long as these Peseta banknotes are not registered, as they would be were they coming from a bank robbery or such like. Every year, Pesetas to the value of 1,000,000 € seem to be cashed in that way, on average.

Some businesses up and down the Spanish mainland have also let it be known that Peseta banknotes are accepted by them as a payment method as long as proper purchases are being made. Blimey. Anything to get the economy going.

Sadly, I don’t have any old Spanish banknotes lying around, so I can not offer you a photo of my own making. Instead, the photo was taken from the Internet, courtesy of CincoDias.com.

Muchas gracias.