Source: Zimbabwe Independent
Cash transactions declined by 8% from US$5,3 billion in July to US$4,9 billion in August, as an acute shortage of bank notes forces more people to use online payment methods, data from the central bank has shown.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) noted that the total value of mobile and internet-based transactions in August amounted to US$766 million, up from US$709 million in July, while cheque transactions declined by 14% to US$7,9 million during the same period.
“The value of transactions processed through the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system increased by 0,4% to US$3,93 billion in August 2016, from US$3,91 billion recorded in July 2016. RTGS transaction volumes also registered a 5% increase from 242 373 in July 2016 to 253 938 during the period under review,” said the central bank in the latest monthly report.
Overall, transactions processed through the National Payment System (NPS) were up marginally from US$6, 319 billion in July to US$6, 359 billion in August.
Annual broad money supply increased by two percentage points to 16,8% in August driven by an increase in short term deposits, statistics from the central bank have shown.
Demand deposits grew by 30% while savings were up 11,6%. Over 30-day deposits, however, recorded a decline of 0,79% during the same period.
On a monthly basis, the growth in broad money supply increased by 1,7% from US$5,1 billion in July 2016, to US$5, 2 billion in August 2016.
Annual banking sector credit increased from US$5 billion in August 2015 to US$5, 8 billion in August 2016.
Month-on-month banking sector credit declined by 0,10% from US$5, 7 billion recorded in July 2016.
Credit to the private sector declined by 7,1% from US$3,7 billion last August to US$3,4 billion in August 2016, making it the sixth consecutive year-on-year decline since March 2016 as banks impose tighter lending conditions.
“On a month-on-month basis, credit to the private sector decreased by 0,02%, from US$3,4 billion in July to US$3, 4 billion in August. Developments on private sector continued to reflect cautionary lending by banks, in an environment characterised by a slowdown in economic activity.” reads the report.
Source: Zimbabwe Independent