Zimbabweans continued to wait in long lines on Wednesday to withdraw cash from their bank accounts, but customers in Harare, the capital, reported somewhat shorter lines after the issuance Monday of a Z$50,000 bank note and an increase in the withdrawal limit.
Sources in Harare said commercial banks were able to dispense the maximum daily withdrawal amount of $50,000 cash to customers, but building societies such as Beverly and CABS continued to feature long queues, and their ATMs were more often out of service than functioning.
Conditions in Bulawayo, the country's second-largest-city, were reported to be similar.
Bank transactions
in Mutare were slowed by disruptions of inter-bank network communications due to power
cuts, local financial sources said. Most banks in Mutare were said to be distributing $20,000 bank notes instead of the new $50,000 bills issued by the Reserve Bank.
Harare resident Diamond Karanda told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that prices of most goods have surged following the latest withdrawal limit increase.