The April 2022 Monthly Report explains the development of the debt situation in the euro area’s private non-financial sector since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and describes possibilities for the stability-oriented further development of the central government’s debt brake. Furthermore, the Monthly Report analyses the current developments in the demand for euro banknotes at the Bundesbank and contains a contribution on the possible macroeconomic consequences of the war in Ukraine: simulations of an intensified risk scenario. 

How much does a cash payment cost? How long does it take? What costs arise at which points? And how do cash payments compare with cashless payments in terms of costs? Answers to these and other questions are provided by this study on the costs of cash payments in the retail sector, contributing to the debate on the efficiency of payments at the point of sale (POS).