Persistent liquidity constraints in cash-strapped Zimbabwe are pushing the southern African country's citizens to use online payments platforms, with cheque payments fast disappearing, data from the central bank shows.

The mobile penetration rate in Zimbabwe has surpassed 100%, although the internet penetration rate is still below 50%. Internet access in Zimbabwe is mostly through mobile devices and experts say mobile and internet payments are thriving in the country because of cash shortages.

"In volume terms, Mobile-based transactions remained dominant, accounting for 89.1% of total transactions, followed by ATMs, 6.7%; POS, 3.2%; RTGS, 0.9%; and cheques, 0.1%," the RBZ said in its first weekly report for 2015.

This report covered the beginning of January up until the 9th of the month.

In the period under review, the total value of transactions processed through the National Payment System (NPS) declined by 7.15%, to slightly above $1 billion.

During the same period it said, "transactions processed through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system amounted to US$825 million, down from US$865 million" recorded in the previous week.

Other countries in Africa are also witnessing increased usage of mobile and internet platforms, helping drive up the value of transactions carried out using such platforms and significantly developing mobile payments beyond person-to-person transactions.

Experts at Mondato, a global advisory company on mobile financial services, said in November last year that the African mobile money scene was poised to grow significantly in the next four years, with person-to-business (P2B) transactions in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana poised to hit the $900 billion mark by 2018.