Back to cash?
Why the Swedes learn to love the cash again)
For a long time, Scandinavian countries were the pioneers in terms of cash without paying. But now the love of cash is fueled again – also because of Putin’s Russia.
A quick train of the card or a click in the app, the purchase is already paid. More and more people in Europe are relying on cashless payment. We Germans are still lagging behind, but almost half of all purchases with a card or via the smartphone are now taking place in this country. According to statistics, 52 percent of purchases are still made by appearance and coins. So Germans still love their cash – even significantly more than other nations in a European comparison.
In particular, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland were long considered to be a leader, in relation to the comprehensive opportunity to buy by card or app. But now the Scandinavian countries seem to turn back to cash again. Even though Sweden was already on the way to the cash -free country with big steps. According to surveys, 90 percent of Sweden paid in 2023 by card or app, as the Swedish “announced. But as practical as the payments are, they have two major disadvantages – and politics has now recognized, as the British “” reports.
The goal of cyber attacks, worthless in the event of a crisis – a cashless system has weaknesses
Since the Corona pandemic, contactless payment has experienced a real boom because it is practical and also hygienic. However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there has been concern in Sweden about the dark side of the cashless financial system. Here, customers can shop almost anywhere without bills and coins, nowhere in Europe is as little cash in circulation as in Sweden and Norway. A fact that makes the countries attractive destinations for cyber attacks. Because if the digital system for paying is wide, chaos would be inevitable.
And a second aspect is worried about the governments of the federal states: Because the digital payment in Scandinavia has been so self -evident for relatively long time, weaning could have been used. In the eyes of many people, cash could have lost its value. In a crisis, this would be fatal because it would lose its legitimacy – and would no longer be accepted by some. That would be synonymous with the collapse of the financial system.
Sweden and Norway ask the population to often pay cash again
To point out this, the Swedish Ministry of Defense sends brochures entitled “When crisis or war come” to every household across the country. This calls for this to pay regularly with cash again and to hoard a money supply for at least one week to prepare for any crisis.
Similar advice also grants Norway to his population. Here, too, the cash payment should be normalized again. Last year, the government issued a law that dealers have to expect punishments if they do not accept cash.
Norway’s former Minister of Justice and Emergency, Emilie Mehl, said: “If nobody pays cash anymore and nobody accepts cash anymore, cash in the crisis will no longer be a real emergency solution.”
Source: Stern
