More phones, few banks and years of instability are transforming Somalia to a cashless society
Friday, February 26, 2016
Ahmed Farah Hassan no longer carries the tattered Somali shilling notes that were the currency of his war-torn country’s economy for years.
At a gas station in Mogadishu recently, the 32-year-old filled up his car and then paid with a few clicks of his phone.
“It’s easy nowadays. I don’t need to carry my cash. I just use my phone to pay bills everywhere I buy goods and services,” said Hassan, a driver at the Kheyre Development and Rehabilitation Organization, a local NGO that works with UNICEF to help street children. “Everyone here has his own bank. It’s safe.”
In the streets of Mogadishu, the future has arrived: cash is disappearing, credit cards are unnecessary, and daily shopping is speedy and digital.
Source: Quartz (link opens in a new window)
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