MEDIUM-TERM PROSPECTS FOR CASH USAGE, NATIONAL BANK
Year of implementation: 2024, 2021-2022. 3 waves of research.
Methodologies Used: F2F CAPI interviews (Face-to-face Computer Assisted Personal Interview): For this study, personal formalized interviews were conducted at the respondents' place of residence or place of business (6,000 households, 3,450 legal entities and individual entrepreneurs) using tablets, along with diary-based expenditure studies.
Research Geography: 17 regions of Kazakhstan and three cities of republican significance – Astana, Shymkent, and Almaty. Both urban and rural settlements were covered.
According to our 2022 study, published by the National Bank, cash accounted for 35% of household expenditures (p.4). In 2024, this value dropped even lower to 28%; this indicates that Kazakhstan is following the global trend of declining cash circulation.
From 2021 to 2024, the share of the population preferring to keep savings in cash decreased to 20%, likely due to high inflation.
The research findings are utilized by the National Bank in planning cash circulation and the structure of cash denominations in circulation. Overall, it can be stated that the share of the population using cash has decreased to 41%, and the share of household cash expenditures has dropped to 28%.
Overall, paper and plastic payment instruments, as well as the use of accounts, are gradually being replaced by decentralized methods, as described by McKinsey in the essay "On the cusp of the next payments era: Future opportunities for banks." Nevertheless, three-quarters of Kazakhstan's population and businesses are confident that both cash and cashless payment methods should coexist in the modern world
