Microsoft Word - ECCU Creative Youth Competition Essay KAH

Towards a Cashless Society: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Realities for the

Eastern Caribbean Currency Union

The term “cash” refers to money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes

and coins. It is a very popular means by which people carry out various transactions on a day to

day basis all around the world, especially in the Caribbean. The race to a completely cashless

society is being led by countries such as Sweden, Canada and the United Kingdom (Nag, 2016);

countries that are usually ahead of the curve for many different forms of advancement. A

cashless society is one in which financial transactions are not conducted with money in the form

of physical banknotes or coins, but rather through the transfer of digital information ( “Cashless

Society”, 2019). While the Caribbean may consist of much smaller territories in comparison, it

may in fact be much more difficult to achieve such a thing as a cashless society. The reality

being, that even with the many opportunities present for achieving a cashless society, an equal

or perhaps larger amount of challenges may arise.

One benefit of pushing towards a cashless society is the major decline if not eradication

of all street robberies. Cash is the fuel upon which many street robberies burn, because cash is

un-traceable making it perfect for most crimes. In most cases burglars, car jackers, drug dealers

and armed robbers all operate and commit their crimes with the end-goal of achieving cash

(Boorstin, 2017). People who are at the point in their life where they are committing crimes,

may very well have no regard for the physical and/or financial pain they are putting others

(locals and tourists) through, which has an adverse effect on the development of the country.

The Caribbean is often described as “the most tourism - dependent region” in the world.

In 2013 alone, 25 million visitors contributed $49 billion towards the area’s gross domestic

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