Vusumuzi Dube
Harare Bureau
FOLLOWING the unveiling of the new currency last Friday, the country’s sole national payments platform and clearing house, Zimswitch, yesterday announced that it had completed the rollout of the ZiG processing system.
Under the new system, person-to-person transaction limits have been set at ZiG2 400 while the monthly transaction limit is ZiG8 000.
The largest local mobile money platform, EcoCash Holdings, also notified its customers yesterday that it had successfully converted Zimbabwean dollars to the new gold-backed ZiG currency.
“Dear customer, we are pleased to advise that EcoCash services have been restored. You can now transact on USD and ZiG. Thank you for your patience and support,” read a generic message to subscribers.
Zimswitch said an individual could send up to ZiG2 400 per single transaction, but their overall monthly limit would be ZiG8 000.
Although some people struggled to understand the new system and how to make payments, there was overall optimism that the new currency would bring economic stability.
As of yesterday, NMB Bank had not yet completed the conversion.
“Valued client, please note that our conversion to ZiG is still underway. In the interim, you can perform USD transactions across all our channels,” read part of an NMB Bank statement.
Zimswitch was incorporated in 1994 to process domestic card-based (ATM and POS) and EFT transactions among member financial institutions in real time online.
Zimbabweans have pinned hopes on the newly introduced gold backed currency, saying it might be a solution to inflation that has destabilised prices in recent weeks.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu last week introduced the new currency which is backed by the country’s gold and foreign currency reserves, and precious metals.
ZiG notes and coins will start circulating on April 30, but the electronic banking systems should be operational this week.
Bongani Ndlovu