코로나19로 귀해진 '고액권'... 전 세계서 ‘지폐 확보’ 난리<br /><br />The COVID-19 pandemic has led to even more people shopping and spending time online.<br />But it's also created more demand for cash.<br />That's not only the case in South Korea but in major economies around the world.<br />Eum Ji-young has more.<br />A notice on the wall beside an ATM at a bank in Seoul encourages customers not to withdraw money in Korea's biggest banknote worth 50-thousand won, but to take out the smaller 10-thousand-won bill instead.<br />It's the same if you go to the teller.<br />"50-thousand-won bills are highly sought after. But because there's a limited supply, only a fraction of the demand is being met. We're providing 10-thousand-won bills instead."<br />The Bank of Korea says it's placed an order to print three times the number of 50-thousand won bills it did last year.<br />"Since the COVID-19 outbreak, economic uncertainties have increased, so there's been more demand for cash as a store of value. There are fewer business transactions, so the number of banknotes coming back into the central bank is quite low."<br />South Korea isn't the only country that has seen demand rise for large bills.<br />According to a survey conducted on about three-thousand people by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the amount of physical bills people held at home or elsewhere rose by about 88 percent in the pandemic.<br />Major economies including the U.S., the EU and Japan have seen demand for physical bills nearly double or even triple in some countries.<br />The EU has seen a 12-percent increase in currency circulated in bills worth 200 euros, and Japan's largest bills at 10-thousand yen accounted for 97 percent of the rise in the total currency circulation from May to August.<br />Eum Ji-young Arirang News.<br /><br />
