Banks and payment service providers have made little progress in converting customers’ Zimbabwean dollar balances into ZiG as transactions are only conducted in US dollars with most supermarkets recording low business on Monday.
A survey conducted by ZBC News in Harare revealed that most online payment platforms for ZiG transactions are still suspended and supermarkets are only processing transactions in US dollars because banks have not succeeded in aligning their systems with the new ZiG currency system.
During the presentation of the monetary policy statement, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr John Mushayavanhu, said banks would successfully convert Zimbabwe dollar balances into ZiG balances by the end of Monday.
Zimbabwe Bankers Association President, Mr Fanuel Mutogo, shied away from giving a position on the progress made by the banks and did not provide a position on the progress made in the transition to the new ZiG currency system.
However, some banks like NMB have alerted their customers to new ZiG balances after they were successfully converted from Zimbabwean dollar balances, while mobile money operator, Ecocash is now offering ZiG currency functionality in its menu.
“Our members have agreed to the introduction of the new ZiG currency and are still reconfiguring their systems according to the new currency system. However, there is low business activity as most mobile platforms are still down and banks are not fully operational,” said Denford Mutasho, President of the Zimbabwe Retailers Association. After moving to the new ZiG currency.”
Zimbabwean dollar bank balances are converted to ZiG using a rate of 1 to 2498.72.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has informed the nation that the new ZiG notes and coins will begin circulation on the 30th of this month, therefore transactions in ZiG will for the time being be limited to online and mobile platforms only. zbc
