Zimbabwe’s RTGS Outage: How a 24‑Hour Glitch Froze the Nation’s Payments System
A Nationwide Halt to Digital Transactions
On 18 August 2025, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced it was experiencing a “technical challenge” affecting most of its systems, including the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) platform — the backbone for interbank transfers and high‑value payments. In a public notice, the RBZ warned the issue could cause delays in banking services and said its teams were “working diligently to restore all services” (Techunzipped).
The outage meant banks could not process RTGS transfers, and telegraphic transfers to and from abroad were also disrupted (Moneyweb). The RBZ’s official website went offline, making the daily exchange rate for the gold‑backed Zimbabwe dollar (ZiG) unavailable.
Ripple Effects Across the Economy
The disruption quickly spread through the formal economy. Large retailers and local councils — which rely on the RBZ’s published exchange rate to set prices — were left without guidance. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was unable to settle trades during the downtime.
Lawrence Nyazema, president of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe, confirmed the main system outage had “affected payments across the market,” though some services were partially restored before full recovery.
Restoration and Official Assurances
By 19 August, the RBZ issued a follow‑up statement confirming the technical challenge had been resolved and “banking services [were] restored”. The central bank stressed the outage “had no link or effect on depositors’ funds” and highlighted that all financial institutions maintain disaster recovery frameworks to ensure business continuity.
However, as of the afternoon of 20 August, the RBZ’s website remained “under maintenance,” meaning the official exchange rate was still not publicly accessible online.
A Reminder of Systemic Vulnerabilities
While the RBZ has not disclosed the cause of the outage, the incident underscores Zimbabwe’s heavy reliance on a single, centralised payments infrastructure. Analysts note that any disruption to the RTGS platform — even for 24 hours — can have outsized effects in an economy where electronic transactions dominate due to chronic cash shortages.
Background & Previous Outages
Zimbabwe’s RTGS system — an electronic interbank settlement network operated by the RBZ — is the primary channel for moving money between banks. When a customer makes an RTGS transfer, their bank sends instructions through the RBZ, which debits one bank’s account and credits another’s before the recipient sees the funds (Techzim explainer).
This is not the first time the platform has faced disruption. In October 2019, a smaller‑scale outage delayed settlements for several hours, though it did not affect the RBZ website. More recently, in March 2023, intermittent slowdowns were reported by commercial banks, attributed to “network congestion” during a system upgrade. While those incidents were resolved within the same day, they highlighted the absence of publicly disclosed redundancy measures.
Financial analysts have long urged the RBZ to publish resilience and stress‑test results, similar to practices in South Africa and Botswana, to build public confidence in the system’s stability (ZimNow commentary).
