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Zimbabwe Mobile-Money Directive May Halt Commerce, Operator Says

  • Mobile money must be ‘pulled down’ to remove cash service
  • Government refutes Econet’s claims, says system will continue
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A Zimbabwean government directive banning the purchase and sale of cash through mobile-money services may halt much of the nation’s commerce as the biggest system will have to be shut down temporarily, its operator said.

The ban, a directive aimed at stabilizing a monetary system that’s spiraling out of control as the national currency plunges, can’t be effected unless the Ecocash mobile money system is “pulled down,” Econet Group unit Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe Ltd. said in a filing Tuesday at the High Court of Zimbabwe.