The use of cash in France: priority to low-value transactions

Summary Bulletin de la Banque de France 220/2-NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 The use of cash in France: priority to low-value transactions This article uses French data from a survey on the use of cash in the euro area, published at the end of 2017 on behalf of the European Central Bank. Cash turns out to be the preferred means of payment in eurozone outlets: it accounts for three out of four payments and more than half of the value of purchases. However, the results by country are heterogeneous, with France standing out for its concentrated use of small-value purchases and its high propensity for cashless payments. Among the determinants of cash usage, the socio-demographic characteristics of consumers (gender, age, income, occupation) are not very significant. On the other hand, the characteristics of the transactions play a dominant role: in particular, the share of cash payments decreases when the value of the transaction increases, and increases when the transaction is made in a local store. JEL codes E4, E41 68% the share of cash payments made at the point of sale in France (in volume) 73.5% the share of cash purchases made by French people aged 55-64 90% the share of payments with a value of less than 5 euros that are settled in cash.