EcoCash reviews charges

Business Reporter
EcoCash, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile money platform, will adjust its transactional charges by an average 10 percent next month after obtaining the green-light from regulatory authorities.

The company, which last reviewed its charges at the beginning of the year –January – will marginally increase its charges effective September 19, 2021.

According to a price schedule published on the company’s website and social media pages at the weekend, EcoCash subscribers will soon be paying an extra $1,37 when sending $100 to a registered user, up from the previous charge $8,01.

Consumers buying ZESA electricity tokens using EcoCash, or paying for goods valued at $100, will pay an additional $1,24 and $1,20, up from $7,76 and $7,71 respectively from September 19 onwards.

The schedule reveals that there will, however, be no additional changes on all transactions above $3 000, with users continuing to pay 1,91 percent for sending money and 1,85 percent for making bill and merchant payments.

But subscribers will now be required to part with $18,37 more when transferring amounts between $2 000 and $2 499.

Transactions above $500, as in previous tariffs reviews, will continue to attract the statutory two percent Intermediated Money Transfer Tax.

There was no immediate comment from the company on the price adjustment, coming at a time the prices of goods and services in the country have more than doubled in the nine months since EcoCash’s last tariff review.

The EcoCash tariff schedule made no reference to the $5 000 daily transaction limit imposed on mobile money transactions in May 2020.

Although the monetary authorities last year promised to review the EcoCash weekly limit of $35 000 “continuously, in line with the requirements and convenience of the transacting public”, there has so far not been any changes made to the transaction limits.