CASHLESS SOCIETY (Savings on printing and handling of currency notes)

Dr Wang Kai Yuen asked the Minister for Finance and Minister for Health what is the amount of annual expenditure on printing and handling of currency notes that the Board of Commissioners of Currency expects to save if the nation goes cashless and whether such potential savings can be used to promote the cashless society.

Dr Hu Tsu Tau: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the cost of printing the new currency notes issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency in 1984 was about $5.5 million.

Cash, in the form of currency notes and coins, will always be required for some transactions. The progressive conversion to cashless transactions will probably have only a marginal impact on the current operations of the Board, although it will undoubtedly lower the growth in demand for currency notes in the future. Most of the immediate advantages of cashless transactions will accrue directly to those organizations, firms, etc. which are paying salaries in cash, collecting cash and accounting for cash.

The Government is already promoting cashless transactions as part of the productivity movement. A committee chaired by the Head of the Civil Service was established in January 1984 to find measures to minimize cash transactions in both the public and private sectors.