Central Bank Wants To Reduce Use Of Cash

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Antoine

The Eastern Central Bank Governor Timothy Antoine is reassuring the currency union that the Bank has no intention of eliminating the use of cash.
According to Antoine, the plan is to reduce usage.


“Cash has its convenience will continue to play an important role in our economy and that is for the foreseeable future. The ECCB is committed to reducing our region use of cash and checks”.


The bank’s Governor says the per cent given for the use of cash and checks transaction is still high while other payment options are still too expensive and slow.


“In the ECCU about 80% of all payment is effected using cash or checks when we survey our payment landscape; we can’t but help conclude that payment is still too slow and too expensive”.


While the cost to maintain cash is high, Antoine says those costs are usually passed on to the consumers.


“Although first scale analysis of the social cost of physical cash in the ECCU has not yet been carried out, it is indisputable that cost of cash services including transporting, storing, insuring and securing are extremely high, invariably, these high costs are pass on to the consumers”. 


Antoine says there is still a bit of ignorance as relates to the cost of cash services by some business in the currency union.


“It is obvious to us that many businesses recognize the true and full cost of cash services. This reality, however, means and given the fact that the informer sector is so important in our region, means that the informal sector bears a disproportional burden in respect to the cost of cash”.


The bank will circulate new notes throughout the currency union.


These notes will replace the current paper notes and will begin circulation with the $50 notes from June, $10 and $5 in September and $20 and $100 bills in December and January.
The new notes are more durable and difficult to counterfeit.

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2 COMMENTS

  2. When will ECCB make the paper currency made from recycle materials like Canada and Europe? It’s more expensive to keep making the paper money the old way and that too adds to the expense to ECCB, I do like the new ones made with the braille on it but I think all should be with the same concept on recycle materials. The money won’t wear and tear and that is from my daily experiences handling these cash.

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