Cash payments account for three-quarters of total payments in the eurozone, emphasized the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), stating that cash continues to play a key role in the economy despite the increasingly widespread use of digital forms of payment.
>>>The decline in prices in the eurozone supports the generous policy of the ECB
Mario Draghi’s words could dispel stubborn doubts in Germany that the ECB wants to gradually reduce their dependence on cash and encourage a transition to other forms of payment.
– Even in this digital age, cash still plays an important role in our economy, emphasized the head of the European Central Bank in a statement on the issuance of the new €50 banknote.
Research on cash usage
– A study on cash usage, which will soon be published and conducted on behalf of the ECB, shows that cash accounts for more than three-quarters of total payments at points of sale in the eurozone, or, expressed in transaction value, just over half, emphasized Draghi.
Last year’s decision by the European Central Bank to gradually withdraw the €500 banknote angered some in the German central bank, who fear that this aims to limit the freedom of German citizens to save in cash.
The ECB explained that the banknote was withdrawn due to concerns that it was being used to finance crime and terrorism, although official data on this does not exist.
