Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
EcoCash, the Zimbabwe’s largest mobile money owned by Econet Zimbabwe has announced another reduction on its monthly transaction limit for the Ecocash Debit card.
In a text message sent to its subscribers, Econet said cardholders can now only transact for up to $300 per month.
“This limit is split, with $50 set for ATM cashouts, $200 for POS (point of sale) transactions and another $50 for online purchases,” the text read.
This is the fourth reduction of transactions from EcoCash. In October 2016 it set its limit at $1 100 and then revised this to $500 in December 2016.
In February this year, the amount was further reversed to $400 per month, split between $200 for ATM cash outs and $200 for POS (point of sale) transactions and virtual payments which cover online purchases.
Just last month, Econet scaled down the issuance of new debit cards for the EcoCash service, in line with the central bank’s directive to monitor foreign expenditure.
Local financial institutions have been finding it hard to meet foreign payment obligation on the back of low nostro balances as foreign currency shortages in the country persist.
In its latest Mid-Term Monetary Policy Statement released on Wednesday the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said it had arranged almost $1 billion worth of facilities to deal with forex crisis.
The apex bank said it has negotiated for a $600 million nostro stabilisation from Afreximbank.
The RBZ also renewed the African Export-Import Bank Trade Backed Securities (Aftrades) facility at an enhanced level of $400m for another two years to mature in 2019.
Online Reporter