Aino Bunge: Necessary measures to protect the use of cash

Recently, the Riksbank issued a recommendation that households should keep around SEK 1,000 in cash per adult at home to strengthen their preparedness and that there must be opportunities for everyone in society, regardless of their circumstances, to pay.

“Cash is important in the event of crisis or war. But it should not be forgotten that even in normal times, it is an important means of payment for people who do not have a payment account or cannot use digital payment services for other reasons,” said Ms Bunge.

However, the use of cash is continuing to decline and the Riksbank encourages the public to use cash on a regular basis to keep the cash systems running. The Riksbank has also long emphasised that political measures are needed to ensure that cash can continue to be used as a means of payment. 

"It is therefore positive that the Government has recently presented a bill to require grocery stores and pharmacies to accept cash and that private individuals should be able to make cash deposits to a satisfactory extent, and that companies’ opportunities to collect change and make overnight deposits will be improved,” continued Ms Bunge.

She added that the Government also has a responsibility to maintain the cash chain and that the Riksbank plays an important role.

“We have opened several new cash depots around the country in recent years. At the beginning of the year, the fifth and final one was opened in Sundsvall. We have also opened new reserve stocks of banknotes and enabled more companies to collect and deposit cash at the Riksbank,” concluded Ms Bunge.