Zimbabwe halts mobile money transactions amid economic crisis

Zimbabwe has suspended trading on the stock exchange as well as all mobile phone monetary transactions.

Zimbabwe stock exchange chief executive officer Justin Bgoni said on Sunday, June 28, that trading was suspended until further notice.

In a statement on Friday, the government halted these activities with immediate effect citing criminality and economic sabotage. They blame the stock exchange for fuelling the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar and housing fake counters.

Meanwhile, the decision to suspend mobile payments will hit the economy hard. Mobile money is widely used as a form of payment of goods and services. According to central bank data more than 80 per cent of all transactions are conducted on phones due to a shortage of banknotes.

The government states that all mobile money platforms were complicit in illicit activities.