2016-02-12 Fri

After some surveys and reports suggested that people of Sweden are not really interested in using notes, the government has decided on issuing new bank notes that feature artists and a diplomat which includes a new denomination.

According to a New York Times article, the country is quickly moving to a cashless future, with young people in particular favouring cell phone apps and plastic. The article also points out that only 2 percent of Sweden’s economy is based on physical currency which is extremely low as compared to 7.7 percent in the United States and 10 percent in euro countries. In terms of consumer trade, just 20 percent of Swedish transactions are in cash, compared to 75 percent in the rest of the world.

Since half of the country’s large banks do not keep cash and do not accept deposits of it, massive quantities of uncirculated currency is left behind only for a collector’s perusal.