Some of the new RBZ monetary measures that affect you as an individual

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) released its monetary policy on Friday with a raft of measures aimed at stabilising the foreign exchange rate among other measures.

The ones that were directed at individuals are:

Limits on mobile transactions per day

Transactions by individuals shall be pegged at ZW$5,000 per day. Individuals shall be allowed to undertake Person to Person transfers, Person to Merchant payments for goods and services, settlement of bills and purchase of airtime.

One mobile money wallet per person

Following the suspension and freezing of agent and bulk-payer wallets on 27 June, 2020, mobile money operators have allowed illegal foreign currency dealers to use multiple individual wallets as a means to bypass the transaction limits and continue with their illicit transactions. Mobile money operators shall, with immediate effect, close all multiple wallets, and allow just one wallet per individual.

And as we reported yesterday, agent lines are abolished so there goes the standalone moneyback option.

Domestic FCAs

While the RBZ will now require businesses to liquidate 20% of their earnings in Forex, this policy will not apply to all existing balances in the Domestic FCAs. This policy measure shall also not apply to recipients of free funds including individuals, embassies, non-governmental organisations, tobacco and cotton producers and Domestic FCAs for fuel companies.