Singapore's currency in circulation tripled since 2009 — and the last official cash-use figure is from 2015
Gross currency in circulation went from S$23.3 billion at the end of 2009 to S$72.8 billion in July 2026. How much of that gets spent is the question Singapore has the least data to answer: the most recent official measure of cash use dates from 2015.
How much cash is in circulation in Singapore?
Three times as much as fifteen years ago. Gross currency in circulation, notes and coins together, rose from S$23,295.9 million at the end of 2009 to S$66,779.4 million at the end of 2024 and S$72,799.9 million in July 2026 (MAS via SingStat).
How much cash is in circulation in Singapore?
Gross circulation (S$ m)
Shared linear scale from zero. Selected entries from the table below. Its dates, units, definitions and limitations still apply.
| End of period | Gross circulation (S$ m) | Of which notes | M2 (S$ m) | Cash ÷ M2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2009 | 23,295.9 | 22,151.7 | — | — |
| December 2014 | 36,428.8 | 35,049.4 | — | — |
| December 2019 | 52,534.7 | 50,964.2 | — | — |
| December 2024 | 66,779.4 | 65,075.7 | 828,324 | 8.06% |
| July 2026 | 72,799.9 | 71,092.6 | — | — |
The ratio column has one entry because this site's M2 series for Singapore begins in July 2021; of the benchmark dates used across this series, only December 2024 has both numbers. The blanks are a data-coverage gap, not zeros, and no substitute M2 source has been spliced in to fill them. The concept here is gross currency in circulation, which includes cash held by banks; in the comparison table below, Taiwan and Vietnam use a public-holdings concept that excludes it, so that table can be read for direction but not for level.
The payment side is the weakest part of Singapore’s record
The obvious next question — how much of that cash is actually being spent — is the one Singapore is least able to answer.
The most recent official measure comes from the Singapore Payments Roadmap, published in August 2016, which reported that cash was used in about 60% of consumer transactions in 2015. Two things limit it. The reference year is 2015, before PayNow and SGQR existed. And the 60% explicitly excludes stored value facilities, which the same report put at a majority of transaction volume — so it is a share of a subset, not of all consumer payments.
Nothing more recent has been published. MAS and SingStat publish payment instrument statistics, but no current share of payments made in cash on either a transaction-count or a value basis.
That leaves Singapore in the same position as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia in this comparison: the stock of cash is well measured, and its use is not. Of the nine markets here, only Thailand, Taiwan and Japan publish a current measure of cash use — and Thailand’s shows cash falling from 86.8% of transactions in 2021 to 66% in 2023 while the cash stock rose.
We have not substituted a payments-industry estimate for the missing statistic.
Does every market look the same?
No, and that is the most interesting result of the comparison.
| Market | Dec 2009 | Dec 2019 | Dec 2024 | Concept |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | 3.12% | 4.61% | 5.17% | held by public |
| Hong Kong | 5.82% | 7.12% | 7.25% | in circulation |
| Malaysia | — | 5.85% | 6.89% | in circulation |
| Singapore | — | — | 8.06% | in circulation |
| Thailand | 9.85% | 9.29% | 10.10% | in circulation |
| Japan | 11.19% | 11.32% | 10.23% | in circulation |
| Vietnam | 14.01% | 11.33% | 9.10% | outside banks |
| Philippines | 15.01% | 13.66% | 14.85% | in circulation |
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia rose. Vietnam fell from 14.01% to 9.10% and Japan from 11.19% to 10.23%; Japan’s banknote stock itself peaked in December 2024 and has fallen since. “Cash is being hoarded everywhere” is not what the data says, and Singapore’s own series is too short to place it on either side of that split.
Differences between markets track the settings in which cash is used: how far payment infrastructure reaches, the size of the informal sector, tourist cash flows, and how large-denomination notes are issued. This paragraph interprets the differences; the figures in the tables are observations from published statistics.
What to check when reading these numbers
Start with the concept. “Currency issued”, “currency in circulation” and “currency held by the public” are three different numbers, separated by the cash sitting in bank vaults. The tables label each row for that reason.
Then check the vintage of any cash-use figure. A payment share from 2015 describes the payment system of 2015. Quoting it as current would misstate the market rather than inform about it, which is why it is dated explicitly here.
Finally, do not read cash ÷ M2 as something else. It is the mathematical share of cash within a monetary aggregate. It is not a measure of “true inflation” and it is not a measure of the shadow economy.
Questions & answers
How much currency is in circulation in Singapore?
S$72,799.9 million in July 2026 on a gross basis including coins, up from S$23,295.9 million at the end of 2009. The notes-only figure for July 2026 is S$71,092.6 million and coins are S$1,707.2 million.
What share of payments in Singapore is made in cash?
There is no current official figure. The most recent is from the Singapore Payments Roadmap published in August 2016, which reported cash in about 60% of consumer transactions in 2015 and explicitly excluded stored value facilities from that count. Given how payments changed after 2016, that figure describes a different market from today's.
Why is there only one cash-to-M2 ratio in the table?
Because this site's M2 series for Singapore begins in July 2021, so a like-for-like ratio can only be computed for December 2024 among the benchmark dates used here. The earlier currency levels are shown, but the ratio cells are left blank rather than filled with a different M2 source.
Is cash rising everywhere in Asia?
No. Taiwan went from 3.12% to 5.17% of M2 and Hong Kong from 5.82% to 7.25%, but Vietnam fell from 14.01% to 9.10% and Japan from 11.19% to 10.23%. Japan's banknote stock itself peaked in December 2024.