Tag: War On Cash

Hot on the heels of their previous post comes another article from ABC news which makes the link between the $10k cash ban, negative interest rates and the IMF. It’s titled “Banning cash so you pay the bank to hold your money is what the IMF wants“.

This is something which followers will know we have been highlighting for some time.

This theory … has not been plucked out of thin air.

It is based on repeated public papers and statements by the international body in charge of financial stability — the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A recent IMF blog entitled “Cashing In: How to Make Negative Interest Rates Work”, explains its motive in wanting negative interest rates — a situation where instead of receiving money on deposits, depositors must pay regularly to keep their money with the bank.

As the blog notes, during the global financial crisis central banks reduced interest rates.

Ten years later, interest rates remain low in most countries, and “while the global economy has been recovering, future downturns are inevitable”.

“Severe recessions have historically required 3 to 6 percentage points cut in policy rates,” the IMF blog observed.

“If another crisis happens, few countries would have that kind of room for monetary policy to respond.”

The article then goes on to explain that to “get around this problem”, a recent IMF staff study looked at how it could bring in a system that would make deeply negative interest rates “a feasible option”.

The answer, it said, is to phase out cash.