Obtain several payment cards, open accounts in several banks, explore the possibilities of modern technologies, such as smartphones, but at the same time keep cash at home! This is the advice of financial experts.
It is worth remembering that, for example, on April 28 of this year, a large-scale and prolonged power outage occurred in Spain and Portugal, during which cashless payments were impossible. The ratio of cashless to cash payments in Latvia in August of this year was 74% to 26%. This is evidenced by the latest study "Payment Radar," published by the Bank of Latvia.
"Cash has regained its previous positions, approaching the level of August 2023, when the share of cash payments was 27%," notes the Bank of Latvia. Notably, in February of this year, the share of cash payments reached a historically low level of 22%. It can be assumed that the increase in the share of cash payments in August is related to the fact that in the summer, people more often visit various fairs and are in the countryside, or rather, make more purchases in places where cashless payments are not always available.
The Payment Radar is prepared by the Bank of Latvia in collaboration with the market and social research agency "Latvijas fakti." The ratio of cashless to cash payments was first studied in February 2017. At that time, cashless payments accounted for 58%, while cash payments accounted for 42%. Since then, the share of cashless payments has gradually increased and stabilized in recent years at a level above 75%. The average number of payments made by one resident of Latvia per week in August of this year was 17.9 (in February 2025, it was 14.1, and in August 2024, it was 15.2), including 13.3 cashless payments and 4.6 cash payments.
"From the perspective of payment resilience, it is obvious that the more alternatives there are, the higher the security of society. These alternatives can be provided by each individual—not only relying on centralized solutions but also creating savings. At the same time, a payment card is necessary. For account security, one can open accounts with different payment service providers, for example, in several banks," recommends Reinis Vecbastiks, an expert on modern payments at the Bank of Latvia.
