According to the annual edition of the 'Boletim Notas eMoedas' of the Bank of Portugal (BdP), "it is estimated that, in denominations of two euros to 10 cents, the weight of the foreign currency represented, in 2021, 70% of the total, which corresponds to a growth of 1.3 percentage points in relation to the previous year".

"The most common foreign-faced coins in national circulation correspond to coins from the euro area countries, where most tourists visiting Portugal come from, that is, coins with a Spanish face (22%), German face (14%) , French (13%) and Italian (7%)," details the central bank.

Regarding the five-to-one-cent coins, the analysis of the BdP also allows us to conclude that "the weight of the currency with a foreign face in circulation has grown: it went from 19% in 2013 to 50% in 2021, with emphasis on national, Irish (18%), Spanish (13%) and French (8%)".

According to the BdP, "the increase in the weight of the foreign currency in recent years can be partly explained by the receipt, in 2017, of 272 million two-cent coins from the Central Bank of Ireland, which have since been put into circulation by Banco de Portugal".

Since 2004, Banco de Portugal has analysed, through sampling, the origin of coins circulating in Portugal.

In 2021, the sample corresponded to 19,201 coins delivered by the public to four Banco de Portugal treasuries, in Lisbon, Porto, Évora and Viseu.