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
Human rights are sacred

It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...

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