NPS transactions drop marginally to $7,17 billion

TRANSACTIONS worth $7,17 billion were processed through the National Payments System (NPS) during the week ending August 2, a marginal decline from the $7,22 billion recorded on July 26, latest figures have shown.
In its latest weekly economic highlights, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said there was a decline in transactions processed through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) by 4,27 percent from $4,81 billion to $4,61 billion during the same period.
“The value of NPS transactions was distributed as follows: RTGS, 64,29 percent; mobile, 26,15 percent; point of sale (POS), 9,37 percent; automated teller machine (ATM), 0,19 percent and cheque, 0,01 percent,” said the RBZ.
An ongoing liquidity crisis has seen Zimbabweans warm up to electronic payments.
Zimbabwe adopted a multiple currency regime in February 2009 to escape hyperinflation, with the greenback dominating transactions. But availability of US dollar notes started declining in 2015.
This was compounded by huge imports as well as the export of currency from the economy.
In response to the worsening cash crisis, government encouraged the use of plastic money, which resulted in the rollout of more point of sale terminals in supermarkets and retail businesses.
The volume of transactions processed through the NPS decreased by 10,64 percent, from 41,71 million transactions the previous week to 37,27 million, during the week under review.
“Mobile based transactions constituted 82,37 percent of the total volume of transactions processed through the NPS; POS, 16,93 percent; RTGS, 0,63 percent; ATM, 0,07 percent and cheque, 0,01 percent,” the RBZ said.
The average rates for deposits of three-month tenor stood at 4,43 percent, a marginal decrease from 4,46 percent registered the previous week.
Savings deposits and deposits of one-month tenor, however, remained unchanged at 3,99 percent and 4,16 percent, respectively, during the same week.
Commercial banks weighted lending rates for individual clients increased by 0,01 percentage points to 9,55 percent during the week under review. Weighted lending rates for corporate clients, however, declined marginally from 8,40 percent during the previous week, to 8,39 percent in the week ending August 2.

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