EcoCash Declines Value By 11 Percent

Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe Limited (CSZL) reports that its mobile money transfer subsidiary, Ecocash has registered an 11 percent transactional value decline in the wake of stricter operating regime imposed by the central bank recently.Between April 2020 and September 8, 2020, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, through its subsidiary, the Financial Intelligence Unit issued a total eight directives targeted at the Ecocash platform.These included reductions in transactional limits, suspension of agent lines, directive to integrate on the Zimswitch platform, among others measures.The RBZ defended the directives arguing they were meant to block illegal foreign currency dealers from abusing the platform by increasing parallel market exchange rates and derailing government’s efforts to stabilise the economy.The period after the implementation of these directives has been marked by both price and exchange rate stability.However, in a trading update released this week, CSZL chairman, Charmaine Daniels revealed the directives issued by the regulator have impacted on the group’s operations. –NewZimbabwe