THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe says the ratio of cash to deposits in banks has come down from a high of 43,5 percent in 2009 to just under 5 percent, with electronic transfers picking up the huge difference as most retailers now get most of their payments by swipe card and banking App transfers.

RBZ deputy governor Kupukile Mlambo told delegates at a business conference at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair yesterday that as Zimbabwe moves towards a near total electronic transfer market only 2 percent of banks’ liquid assets were in banknotes and coins.

However, the move towards a pure electronic economy is hampered by the fact that few rural retailers can cope outside a cash economy, with networks not always working, and many informal small traders probably need cash. Even ordinary urban people usually need a trickle of cash for combi fares and the like although mobile money could take a greater share of these transactions, as they do in Kenya.