Plastic money use now popular

Zimbabweans are slowly embracing the use of plastic money as  cash shortage continue resulting on most business ventures  cashing in.

Most major retail outlets including pubs  are now  giving cash backs of up to three times the amount of goods purchased by customers.

According to a report titled Zimbabwe Banking Sector, Surviving in a Cashless Economy, IH Securities said usage of plastic money was gaining momentum.

"Cash withdrawal limits in the country were unusually high with individual limits previously standing at up to US$10 000 per day, post the onset of cash shortages we have seen these limits reduced initially to US$1 000 per day and now to generally US$100 to US$200 per day depending on availability.

"This has forced people to embrace plastic money despite some early resistance. All retailers have been encouraged to install point of sale (POS) machines and we have seen transactional volumes going up from 1,12 million in June 2015 to 3,2 million in June 2016," the report said.

IH Securities added that the RTGS system has been upgraded and now transactions can be done in multiple currencies. The main challenge with the use of plastic money and RTGS has been the high bank charges, with banks charging as much as US$10 for RTGS payments.

"The central bank has since stipulated that charges of electronic funds transfer, RTGS transfers and POS transactions be reduced (RTGS charge has been halved from US$10 to US$5).