Rand wallet goes live in Zim

(161129) -- HARARE, Nov. 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Nov. 28, 2016 in Zimbabwe's capital Harare shows the new bond notes that start circulating in the country. Zimbabwe on Monday added a new "surrogate" currency to the nine already in its multi-currency basket amid mixed feelings from the banking public. (Xinhua)(yy)

(161129) -- HARARE, Nov. 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Nov. 28, 2016 in Zimbabwe's capital Harare shows the new bond notes that start circulating in the country. Zimbabwe on Monday added a new "surrogate" currency to the nine already in its multi-currency basket amid mixed feelings from the banking public. (Xinhua)(yy)

Published Dec 8, 2016

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Harare – Zimbabwe could be turning to the rand after earlier

rejecting it for official usage in the cash shortage hit country, with the

central bank approving mobile phone company, Econet Wireless to start offering

rand services for its mobile money wallet that has 5 million users.

A dollar crunch in the Zimbabwean economy has wreaked havoc

for companies and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in parliament that

banks limiting withdrawal of newly introduced bond notes will be probed. 

The bond notes, which have same value with the US dollar,

have run out in banks and the government has pumped in another $7 million this

week. But this has not helped ease matters and Econet’s rand wallet has now

gone live, allowing cash in and cash out services in the Rand.

Read also:  Bond notes: Zimbabwe's answer to cash woes?

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said the Rand wallet would

further enhance financial efficiency in the economy. Zimbabwe currently uses a

multi-currency basket including Botswana Pula, Japanese Yen as well as the UK's Pound among others.

“Given that we are operating in a multicurrency regime where the Rand is one of

the currencies in the basket, the launch of the Rand Wallet is a welcome

development to further enhance the use and efficiency of the multicurrency

system,” said the central bank.

Econet Wireless chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni

said on Thursday that under the Rand Wallet on its EcoCash facility,

“customers are now able to either Cash-In, Cash-Out or make payments to

merchants and billers in Rand”.

This effectively means that the EcoCash wallet now has two

currencies, the Rand and the US Dollar which has until now been the sole

currency on the platform. The government has sought to drum up usage of plastic

money, mobile money and bank cards for transactions inside Zimbabwe.

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