Covid sparks panic hoarding of banknotes

Panicked consumers hoarded banknotes at the fastest rate since fears over the Millennium Bug 20 years ago as lockdown hit, experts have found – despite predictions that the Covid-19 crisis would hasten the death of cash. The amount of cash in circulation jumped by 2pc in May as fears surged over the health and economic fallout of the pandemic, according to research by former Bank of England policymaker Charles Goodhart and fellow economist Jonathan Ashworth. The authors said this was the l