The government has ordered reduction in mobile Money tariffs, as well as charges on POS terminals. This is a move to reduce the demand for cash in the country.

Mobile money penetration is great, but it’s usage in payment has been low. This is attributed to the high charges incurred by the user. This is set to end now, as the central bank demanded that the charges be reduced, at least by 50%. This applies to Mobile Money and all forms of cashless payments.  

The charges at point of sale terminals should  be reduced as well. The next step is to make people aware that these charges have been scraped for real. Once people move towards Plastic Money, cash shortages will become a thing of the past. And plastic money is really convenient.

The governor had this to say: 

“Zimbabwe has a cash culture, we are overusing cash. The way forward is to go cashless.

“So, we have engaged banks and are persuading them to reduce charges on Real Time Gross Settlement and point of sale transactions.

“Why would you need cash if you can use your bank card to purchase whichever goods you want, or when you can transfer money into someone’s account?

“I know the prevailing charges are discouraging people from using plastic money, but within the coming two weeks, we will be announcing reduced charges on those transactions.”

Players are already effecting these changes. Econet Wireless, as usual, is all out publicising the reductions it implemented. Actually, EcoCash has scraped all merchant payment charges on its part. If others follow suit, that’ll be great!

Source: The Sunday Mail

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