BASEL, Switzerland—Despite all the reports that a cashless society is coming, cash use is on the rise across the world, according to a new study.
Overall, cash in circulation as share of GDP rose from 7% to 9% for a group of countries that comprise more than 80% of the world's economy, reported Quartz, citing a study by the Bank for International Settlements.
“No single country is responsible for the trend. One might think that people are keeping more cash for use in small transactions. But that isn't it,” Quartz explained.
The data show that the trend is towards using credit and debit cards for smaller transactions. The average value of a card payment across the world has nearly halved since 2000, from $61 to $36, Quartz said.
The BIS study stated that people were spooked by the 2008 financial crisis. With less trust in banks, people now choose to keep more of their savings in cash, the report concluded.
“The researchers show that while circulation of both small and large bills has risen, it is larger bills, the ones less likely to be used for everyday transactions, that have increased the most, as a share of GDP, since 2007. In just four years, from 2007 to 2011, the share of bills worth $75 or more increased from 4.8% of world GDP to 6.2%. In some countries, like South Korea and Russia, the share of small-denomination bills actually fell while the share of high denomination bills rose,” Quartz explained.