National Payment System volumes up

The total volume of transactions recorded on Zimbabwe’s National Payment System (NPS) rose by four percent to 9.491 million in the week ending November 11, the latest report by the central bank shows.

The growth was underpinned by the increase in cheque, Point of Sale, Automated Teller Machines and mobile transactions which increased seven percent, 13 percent, four percent and 1.2 percent respectively. However, Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)  transactions fell by 7.4 percent.

The total value of transactions processed through the NPS however declined by seven percent to $1. 227 billion, the central bank said.

Banking transactions processed through RTGS which accounted for 80.34 percent of the total value of the NPS transactions,  were down 7 percent, to close at $985.64 million in the week.

Mobile transactions dropped 10 percent from $115.74 million to $104.24 million while ATM transactions declined by 16 percent from $28.35 million to $23.85 million.

Cheque transactions went up seven percent to $1.63 million from $1.53 million. POS transactions also increased by 5 percent from $105.89 million to $111.49 million in the period under review.

The growth in transactions carried through POS was largely driven by the current central bank efforts to promote the use of electronic means of payment in order to mitigate the shortage of bank notes.

While volumes of ATMs and mobile transactions increased, their total values declined, reflecting the reduced amounts that individuals are able to withdraw per transaction, with some banks limiting withdrawals at $40 per day.

“Average deposit rates for savings deposits and deposits of 3 month tenors remained unchanged at the previous week levels of 3 percent and 5.75 percent, respectively”, the central bank said.

Commercial bank weighted lending rates for individual and corporate clients were largely flat at 10.68 percent and 6.98 percent, respectively.-The Source

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