diff --git a/ets2panda/compiler/core/ETSGen.cpp b/ets2panda/compiler/core/ETSGen.cpp
index 149c12d4d57963671b7f818166bbcc4ac098b78d..dde5c4c5602ca61cb4024533b5299b14e0b7a85b 100644
--- a/ets2panda/compiler/core/ETSGen.cpp
+++ b/ets2panda/compiler/core/ETSGen.cpp
@@ -1201,10 +1201,6 @@ void ETSGen::CastToReftype(const ir::AstNode *const node, const checker::Type *c
     const auto *const sourceType = GetAccumulatorType();
     ES2PANDA_ASSERT(sourceType->IsETSReferenceType());
 
-    if (targetType->IsETSStringType() && !sourceType->IsETSStringType()) {
-        CastToString(node);
-    }
-
     if (!unchecked) {
         CheckedReferenceNarrowing(node, targetType);
         return;
diff --git a/ets2panda/test/runtime/ets/no-as-string.ets b/ets2panda/test/runtime/ets/no-as-string.ets
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9ced428c7e75f5c0e3103b5f7f5d74df4a448731
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ets2panda/test/runtime/ets/no-as-string.ets
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+function ff(o: Object): string {
+    return o as string
+}
+
+function main(): int {
+    try {
+        ff(44)
+        return 1
+    } catch (e) {
+        return 0
+    }
+}