5 Leva

Bulgaria has retained the lev rather than adopting the euro — a political and economic decision that has dragged on for two decades — which makes continued investment in a new domestic series somewhat pointed. This 2020 emission updated the existing lev series and was produced by Oberthur Fiduciaire, the French security printer that has handled Bulgarian National Bank work for several cycles.

P#117 is the current low-denomination workhorse of the series. At 121 × 67 mm it circulates hard and deteriorates accordingly; cotton substrate helps, but fives typically return to the BNB in poor condition faster than any other value in the range.