The Bank of Russia recorded record demand for cash during the May holidays of 2026, RBC reported on May 13.
According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the increase in cash in the hands of Russians during the holidays from May 1 to May 11 amounted to 210.5 billion rubles. This is the maximum value since 2011, when the regulatory body began collecting such statistics. This is five times more than in the same period of 2025, when the increase amounted to 41.2 billion rubles.
As RBC notes, a similar result was only in the pandemic year 2020 – then the volume of cash during the May holidays increased by 133.5 billion rubles.
Stanislav Murashov, chief economist at Raiffeisenbank, says the cash outflow during the May holidays was primarily due to internet restrictions. “Initially, as I recall, they promised to completely turn off the internet from May 5. I think people were impressed and that was the biggest factor,” he said. The expert is confident that May’s cash outflow is circumstantial and seasonal.
Mobile operators and Sberbank have warned residents of every second region of Russia that during the May holidays, from May 5 to May 9, there may be Internet outages. Speer warned that ATMs may stop working because of this.
According to statistics of the Bank of Russia, as RBC writes, almost every year at the end of April – beginning of May, there is an increasing demand for cash. At the same time, after the May holidays, as a rule, cash is withdrawn from circulation, and at the end of the month, the volume of cash may grow less than in the first ten days of May, or decrease.
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