section_path: Economy
section_name: Economy
paragraph_text: Economy
  
  The Vatican City State budget includes the Vatican Museums and post office and is supported financially by the sale of stamps, coins, medals and tourist mementos; by fees for admission to museums; and by publications sales. The incomes and living standards of lay workers are comparable to those of counterparts who work in the city of Rome. Other industries include printing, the production of mosaics, and the manufacture of staff uniforms.
  
  The Institute for Works of Religion (IOR, Istituto per le Opere di Religione), also known as the Vatican Bank, is a financial agency situated in the Vatican that conducts worldwide financial activities. It has multilingual ATMs with instructions in Latin, possibly the only ATM in the world with this feature.
  
  Vatican City issues its own coins and stamps. It has used the Euro as its currency since January 1999, owing to a special agreement with the European Union. Euro coins and notes were introduced on 1 January 2002 — the Vatican City does not issue euro banknotes. Issuance of euro-denominated coins is strictly limited by treaty. More coins than usual are allowed in a year with a new papacy. Because of their rarity, Vatican euro coins are highly sought by collectors. Until the adoption of the Euro, Vatican coinage and stamps were denominated in their own Vatican lira currency, which was on par with the Italian lira.
  
  Vatican euro coins with images of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI
  
  Vatican City State, which employs nearly 2,000 people, had a surplus of 6.7 million euros in 2007. It ran a deficit in 2008 of over 15 million euros.
  
  In 2012 the US Department of State 's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report listed Vatican City for the first time among the nations of concern for money-laundering, placing it in the middle category, which includes countries such as Ireland, but not among the most vulnerable countries, which include the United States itself, Germany, Italy, and Russia.
  
  In February 2014 the Vatican announced it was establishing a secretariat for the economy, to be responsible for all economic, financial, and administrative activities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, headed by Cardinal George Pell. This followed the charging of two senior clerics including a monsignor with money-laundering offences. Pope Francis appointed an auditor-general authorized to carry out audits of any agency at any time and engaged a US financial services company to review the Vatican's 19,000 accounts, to ensure compliance with international money-laundering practices. The pontiff appointed the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See as the Vatican's central bank, with responsibilities similar to other central banks around the world.
  
  In 2022 the Vatican planned to release NFTs of its museum collection.