Zimbabwe Halts Mobile Transactions as Hyperinflation Spurs Currency Flight
Zimbabwean banknote (Fedor Selivanov/Shutterstock)
Zimbabwe’s central bank, seeking to block attempts to avoid the country’s hyperinflation, halted all transactions conducted by “mobile money agents” this week, and limited payment sizes through other processors.
- This impacts potentially up to 85% of all transactions.
- Residents with money stored in one of these mobile providers will need to visit a local bank to withdraw their funds.
- In a statement, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said the move is necessary to “[p]rotect consumers on mobile money platforms which have been abused by unscrupulous and nonpartisan individuals and entities to create instability and inefficiencies in the economy.”
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