The number of forgeries of euro banknotes and coins is still growing dramatically, according to figures released yesterday by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Union's anti-fraud office.

But both authorities said that the public should not be alarmed and the chances of receiving a forged euro were still low.

The forgers' favourite is the €50 note, which accounted for more than half the forged banknotes discovered in the second half of 2003. Next is the €20 note, which constituted 30 per cent of forgeries, with fake €100 notes being a further 13 per cent.

There were 311,925 counterfeit euro banknotes, with a total apparent value of €15.75 million, withdrawn from circulation in the second half of 2003.

The number of notes was up 30 per cent on the first half of the year, which was at least a slackening of the pace of forgeries, since the figures for the first half of 2003 had been 59 per cent higher than those for the second half of 2002.

An ECB spokesman pointed out that the 551,287 banknotes removed from circulation in 2003 was still only four-fifths of the number of forged national banknotes identified during 2001.

"The ECB advises the public not to be unduly concerned about the chances of receiving counterfeit banknotes," a spokesman said, pointing out that there were around nine billion genuine banknotes in circulation.

The number of forged coins removed from circulation in 2003 was sharply up on the previous year at 26,191, compared with only 2,339 coins found in 2002.

The total apparent value of the counterfeit coins was €45,786.5, compared with €3,355 in 2002. The bulk of those coins were €2 coins.

The anti-fraud office said that the quality of €2 forgeries had improved but they would "generally" still be rejected by coin-operated machines. Three illegal coin workshops were found in 2003 by national authorities, two in Italy and one in Portugal.

The 26,191 counterfeit coins discovered in 2003 compared with 49 billion real coins in circulation.