What Happens When COVID Restrictions Lift? Canada’s Story

The Bank of Canada conducted studies into cash usage in April and July 2020*. This March it updated its staff discussion paper 2021-23 reflecting on these surveys and what they tell us about cash as pandemic containment measures lift.

First results suggest that people returned to using cash and that cash stored for value stays out there, at least to some extent. These studies are the baseline for additional surveys carried out in November 2020 and planned for spring 2021 which will tell us more – the impact of renewed restrictions, the effects of a disrupted year on behaviour and habits.

The value of notes in circulation (NIC) increased significantly in the early months of the pandemic, and growth of NIC slowed materially only in July. The value of NIC in late September was 16% higher, $96.4 billion, than in the corresponding week in 2019.