The Effects of Flow of Electronic Money on the Volume of Currency in Circulation in Iran

The prevalence of electronic money has affected the volume of banknotes and coins in circulation in Iran. This paper aims to study and analyses the mechanism of e-money impacts on currency volume. In this regard، the effects of e-money issuance and development indicators، such as number of debit cards، number of ATM machines، number of Point of Sales (POS) terminals، number of terminals in bank branches، on the volume of banknotes and coins in circulation are estimated using quarterly data during 2004-2010. The estimation results show that the increase in the number of debit cards raises the volume of currency in circulation. This arises since the debit cards are often used to get money for daily and weekly purchases from ATM machines in Iran. In addition، the number of Point of Sales has a negative effect on the volume of currency in circulation.