Econet's Rand wallet goes live as Zim's cash woes mount
Zimbabwe
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08 Dec 2016
Econet's Rand wallet goes live as Zim's cash woes mount
Zimbabwe's Econet Wireless has opened a Rand wallet for its mobile money offering, EcoCash, which will allow for deposits and withdrawals in the South African legal tender as cash shortages continue to impact Zimbabwe despite the introduction of local bond notes.
Douglas Mboweni, CEO of Econet, said on Thursday that the Rand Wallet would broaden currency options for users of the company's EcoCash platform, which is said to have over 5 million registered subscribers.
"The introduction of a multi-currency wallet is another step towards meeting the country's vision of becoming a cashless society and of easing liquidity in a multi-currency regime," Mboweni said.
In line with this, EcoCash agents will now start offering the rand for cash-in and cash out services and the SA currency will also be used to pay merchants and bills in Zimbabwe.
Natalie Jabangwe, Head of EcoCash, also said the Rand Wallet on the platform will be expanded in the future to encompass "banking services and card transactions". The EcoCash platform already has a debit card linked to MasterCard.
Prior to this, EcoCash services were only available in US Dollar currency.
Cash shortages
Zimbabwe is battling to contain cash shortages exacerbated by the country's poor productive base and an exodus of investors, according to local economists.
The company is hoping to "reduce pressure on the USD currency, which has become the predominant currency over the years" in an economy characterised by long bank queues and delayed payments procession for international transactions.
Bond notes introduced at the end of last month have failed to curb the cash woes Zimbabweans are facing. The Zimbabwean bond notes – which have equal value to the US Dollar – are a local currency said to be backed by a US$200 million facility from Afreximbank, according to the government.
Other mobile money operators in Zimbabwe include Telecel Zimbabwe which runs Telecash and NetOne which operates One Wallet. The government has been pushing for increased plastic money usage to push down demand for hard cash which is in short supply.