Mmegi

Cash remains king in local economy

Bird in hand: Many consumers still prefer using cold, hard cash PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Bird in hand: Many consumers still prefer using cold, hard cash PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

The use of fiat notes or cash in Botswana grew by over 100% between 2011 and 2023, making the country an outlier as the world embraces newer payment technology, including cryptocurrencies.

The latest data is contained in a Bank of Botswana (BoB) research paper released recently.

Financial data extrapolated from 2011 as a base year shows that Batswana prefer to use cash as a means of transacting goods and services, with the local economy noticing a growing surge in the use of cash, whilst also seeing growth in its other payment forms such as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).

Editor's Comment
Our digital safety is in our hands

That sounds like good news. But the report also warns that this may simply be because our digital economy is still young, not because we are safe. As more people shop, bank and pay online, criminals will follow.We Batswana do not need a report to tell us that danger is real. Many of us have heard of or fallen victim to KYC scams. A caller impersonates your bank or mobile money provider. They say they need to “verify” your account. They ask...

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