by Farouq Suleiman
LONDON (Reuters) – More Britons are turning to cash to manage their budgets amid soaring prices, Britain’s Post Office said on Monday after recording a record level of withdrawals at its counters in July.
Personal cash withdrawals rose nearly 8% month-on-month to £801m (€950m), the Post Office said, noting it was only the second time they exceeded 800m books after December 2021.
As Britain’s inflation hit its highest level in 40 years at 9.4% in June, Britain’s Post Office said more Britons are choosing to use cash to manage their budget “often on the day the day”.
The Bank of England warned on Thursday that a long recession was imminent and made the biggest hike in its key interest rate since 1995 in an attempt to fight inflation. UK supermarkets also said consumers are buying less and shopping more often, to better control their budget.
Cash’s popularity has been declining for years in Britain, with debit card transactions overtaking notes and coins in 2017, helped by contactless payments, according to banking industry body UK Finance .
The Post Office, which has more than 11,500 branches, said personal cash deposits reached 1.35 billion pounds in July, up 2% from June, and a record 3 .32 billion pounds of cash deposits and withdrawals were processed during the month.
(Report Farouq Suleiman, written by Paul Sandle; French version Elena Vardon, edited by Kate Entringer)
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