The demand for cash not only does not fall, it grows from year to year, contrary to all forecasts and despite the active introduction of non-cash forms of payments. Moreover, this is happening not only in Russia, where over the past 10 years the volume of cash has grown 2.3 times, and now amounts to almost 13.5 billion rubles. And in the USA, and in the European Union, and in Japan, and in China, the picture is practically the same: the growth of cash is about 2 times everywhere.
Maxim Markov, an associate professor at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, explains this phenomenon by both objective and subjective factors, including the fact that cash does not depend on the Internet and power supply, and, therefore, is irreplaceable during man-made or natural disasters, as well as and in hard-to-reach and remote places. They can be used by all social strata without exception, and in addition, they are protected from restrictions, as was the case with the pandemic. And these advantages will continue, so that the central banks of different countries will continue to deal with the circulation of cash.
So, according to the expert, the Bank of Russia will continue to transfer part of its functions to work with cash to other credit institutions so that they open special rooms in cash registers for storing cash, which belong to the Bank of Russia, separately from the funds of these banks, which can reduce costs of collection and counting, as well as to increase the circulation period of banknotes and the speed of their circulation.
Other measures will also be taken to reduce the Bank of Russia's expenditures on cash circulation by 8% by the end of 2025 as compared to their current level.