Botswana’s citizens are increasingly choosing electronic transfers over cheques to make payments, according to the country’s central bank governor.

Mohohlo said that although banknotes and coins continue to be a major medium of exchange in Botswana, non-cash transactions, especially electronic transfers, have gained considerable ground.

“The result is that the average monthly cheque payments have declined by over 50% to about P3 billion in the five years to 2013,” Mohohlo said.

She further said that congestion at banking halls for cash withdrawals has eased because of the increasing number and usage of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

“The value of average monthly ATM withdrawals has increased by about 50% to P1.3 billion,” Mohohlo said.

The governor added that electronic payment transactions are expected to grow even further owing to the introduction of the cheque imaging and truncation system.

The governor is also optimistic that the efficiency of the national payments system could be enhanced by the introduction of the cheque imaging and truncation system, which is expected to reduce the cheque clearing cycle.

Meanwhile, Botswana also has plans to connect the accountant general’s office and the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) to the the electronic Botswana Interbank Settlement System (BISS).

The development is expected to improve the speed, security and efficiency of government payment transactions, as well as those of the BURS.

Last year Botswana terminated a manual payment system and fully adopt electronic payments despite the country’s statutory instruments, which still allow use of cash and cheque payments.