Cash Use Stable in Canada

The Bank of Canada (BOC) carries out regular Methods of Payment (MOP) surveys to measure payment method adoption, use at the point of sale (POS) and perceptions about payment methods. This helps the BOC with its management of banknotes and understanding of digital currencies and may help with its work on a possible Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

The surveys started in 2009 and have been conducted on a four year cycle. Unusually, there was a survey in 2021 and another in 2022. The BOC reported on the 2022 at the start of 2024 ¹. This survey looks at the long term factors affecting cash use.

Key findings from the 2022 MOP were:

• Measures of cash management are similar to results for 2021. High inflation had not changed how much cash was held by Canadians. Visits to automated banking machines (ABM) or a bank to withdraw cash were at rates similar to those in 2021. The average amount withdrawn from ABMs was C$156 in 2022, compared with C$154 in 2021.
• The share of purchases made with cash fell sharply to 21% by November 2020 during the pandemic. In 2022 cash was used for 22% of all purchases, accounting for 12% of the value of purchases.
• The MOP three-day payments diary shows that an increasing share of purchases are made online, reaching just under 15% in the past three years compared with under 5% in 2013 and 2017. BOC believes the long-term decline in cash use since 2009 is mostly due to other important factors, such as increased consumer demand for and merchant acceptance of credit cards.