Counterfeit bills hot in Germany

This news might not sit well with cash-loving Germans.

The number of counterfeit euro banknotes in Europe’s largest economy rose by 8.7 percent in the first six months of this year, even as they declined in the euro region as a whole. According to a Bundesbank report published Friday, this means about one note per 1,000 inhabitants in Germany is a fake.

Fifty-euro notes are by far the most popular with forgers, accounting for 47.6 percent of all counterfeits seized in the euro area, according to a separate publication by the European Central Bank, which said a total of 331,000 bills were removed from circulation so far this year. In Germany, the share of fake fifties is even higher at 63 percent — a fact which could prove troublesome given the country’s extraordinary love of cash.