Why you should always carry CASH with you in South Africa

The way we spend money is changing, but new findings from one of the country’s biggest retailers underlines why you must always carry cash with you in South Africa. Daily Investor is reporting that Pepkor still does 90% of its transactions in cash.

ALWAYS CARRY CASH WITH YOU IN SOUTH AFRICA

In a latest statement from Pepkor, the company has seen a 5.6% increase in cash sales year to date in 2023. Which goes to show that you should always carry cash with you in South Africa. And that poor South African’s are no longer willing to spend money on credit or entertain the fees of expensive digital services.

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In a country plagued by petty crime, you might wonder about the safety to always carry cash with you in South Africa. Well, Pepkor does offer plenty of alternatives to cash payments, but its sales results show none of them are actually replacing the power of cash. This is due to South Africa’s thriving informal economy, which we’ve covered before, that prefers to operate ‘off the books’ in most communities.

CASH IS KING IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY

Retail bank, BankservAfrica, has seconded the assertion that you should always carry cash with you in South Africa. It found that nine out of ten transactions in South Africa are still made in cash. Specifically, 95% of informal small business customers prefer to deal in cash.

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According to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), there is roughly R180-billion worth of cash in circulation at any one time. This amount of cash does bring about concerns of crime. No wonder then there have been 217 Cash-in-Transit (CIT) robberies so far this year. This figure is 15% higher than before and equates to one CIT robbery per day.

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