Demand for cash and the use value in cash is a worldwide story.

Laffery Daily Briefing reports Ethiopian banks are issuing new notes as they try to increase the number of people with bank accounts, inviting people to cash in the decades-old notes that they keep as savings.

“The rush of applications forced the nation’s biggest commercial lender to assign more tellers to only handle money changing at its main branch next to it headquarters in the capital, Addis Ababa,” notes Moneyweb.

“The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia branch gained at least 1000 customers in the past month, while many others deposited cash in accounts that had been dormant.

“Only 35 per cent of Ethiopian adults held a bank account in 2017, lagging peers such as neighbouring Kenya, where the ratio is 82 per cent, according to the World Bank.”

Further south, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is backing cash as a long term form of payment, more resilient and essential than many in the digital payments brigade believe.

“Te Putea Matua is taking on a new role of steward of the cash system to preserve the benefits of cash for all who need them”, RBNZ assistant governor Christian Hawkesby told the Royal Numismatics Society of New Zealand annual conference yesterday in Wellington.

“Cash is being used less as a means of payment and access to cash is declining. However, cash provides important benefits to many people, including legal tender money, social and financial inclusion, peer-to-peer payments, backup payments, and privacy and autonomy,” Hawkesby said.

“We encourage every banking sector participant to consider their role in supporting the needs of their customers, including those who depend on cash for their everyday needs”, he said.