Ecocash raises limits to $100 000 ZWL per wee

April is turning into a horrible month in terms of price increases and inflation. Not only are we seeing all-around price increases with bread now selling for around $350 per loaf, we also have a pending ZESA tariff hike, mealie-meal prices going up to US$6 among other hikes. Naturally, if you use ZWL as your means of payment you are likely to beach various limits set by financial institutions such as Ecocash and Banks. There is good news on that front. As the headline suggests Ecocash has now lifted its limits in response to soaring inflation.

The new limits are as follows:

• If you are sending money:
  • $10 000 ZWL per transaction
  • $70000 ZWL per week or per day.
• If you are paying a merchant:
• $50 000 ZWL per transaction
• $100 000 ZWL per week or per day.

This is likely to make it less awkward when you try to checkout using Ecocash at your local grocer when you buy groceries for the coming month. The previous limit would have required a lot of people to split their purchases which is annoying and leads to queues. It’s also unfortunate that Ecocash still insists on making people use USSD payments rather than issue a card that would make payments easier. In fact, other operators like OneMoney and the barely functional Telecash both have ZIMSWITCH enabled cards that allow them to bypass limits like this when you swipe your card. The downside is both companies shamelessly still issue insecure Magistripe cards which are every card cloner’s dream.