The Sunday News
Clinton Moyo, Business Reporter
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers Association (CZRA) has expressed satisfaction at the number of businesses embracing the use of electronic transactions.
CZRA president Mr Denford Mutashu said the use of plastic money and mobile banking for transactional purposes has been experiencing significant growth since the beginning of the year.
“We are pleased with the way retailers have accepted the use of plastic money despite the initial reaction we got after the introduction of plastic money.
You will realise that 75 percent of the retail transactions this year were done electronically, which shows that they have accepted the new ways of operation. It’s, however, not retailers only. We have wholesalers, distributors and other people in the chain operating smoothly with plastic money,” he said.
Use of plastic money goes a long way towards stimulating productivity as there would be no more delays attributable to cash shortages as all the
transactions would be feasible through electronic transmission of money.
There is certainty that the productive sector stands to benefit more than the current levels of revenue inflows where all transactions demand cash up-front.
Mr Mutashu applauded the Government’s efforts of engaging banks to extend their banking services in remote areas.
“We are also pleased by the way the Government has engaged banks to extend their financial facilities in marginalised areas because that’s where there is a large population of people. Remember 90 percent of our population is in the rural areas and that is where banks should go,” he said.
He, however, said banks should refrain from charging exorbitant transaction fees and interest rates above the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s stipulated levels.
“I would like to encourage banks to take advantage of this opportunity and charge reasonable banking fees because people in rural areas would want to utilise their money to cover various expenses. So banks should take this opportunity to expand but should not take the little money that people have in banks, the charges should be reasonable,” he said.
Presenting the 2018 National Budget proposals Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa last week said banks were in the process of reviewing their lending rates and banking charges.
“The provision of affordable banking services and access to credit is an integral component of Zim Asset initiatives to promote financial inclusion and boost productive capacity. In this regard, banking institutions are progressively reviewing the level of their lending rates and bank charges,” he said.
Minister Chinamasa said cognisant of the critical role of the banking sector in promoting the Zim Asset economic recovery initiatives, the RBZ continued to employ measures aimed at ensuring safety and soundness of the banking sector.
“Against this background, for the nine months ending September 2017, the banking sector remained stable on the back of adequate capitalisation, improved earnings and satisfactory asset quality.
“To this end, as at 30 September 2017, all banking institutions were adequately capitalised and in compliance with minimum capital requirements,” he said.
Minister Chinamasa said the major challenge, however, has remained, continued experiences of underlying shortages of physical cash, on the back of structural challenges in the economy.
“In this regard, the Reserve Bank will continue to promote a ‘cash-lite’ society by encouraging increased digital banking platforms, and use of plastic money,” he said.
