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Hyperinflation meets tech: Cash-scarce Venezuela sees boom in payment apps
Source: Reuters
TECHNOLOGY NEWS FEBRUARY 15, 2018 / 7:03 AM / UPDATED 36 MINUTES AGO
Hyperinflation meets tech: Cash-scarce Venezuela sees boom in payment apps
Andreina Aponte, Corina Pons
5 MIN READ
CARACAS (Reuters) - Widerven Villegas and his brother wash some 30 cars a day at a parking lot in Caracas. Despite charging less than 50 cents, nobody pays them in cash.
In tech hubs from San Francisco to Tokyo, payment is conveniently made through software on phones and watches on a routine basis. Amid a dire economic crisis in Venezuela a similar innovation is taking hold, though for very different reasons.
People from vegetable sellers to taxi drivers have registered to use mobile payment applications to attract customers who do not have enough paper money, which is in short supply due to soaring prices. The maximum daily amount Venezuelans can withdraw from cash machines is around 10,000 bolivars, around 4 cents at the black market exchange rate.
Venezuela’s hyperinflation, one of the first of the digital era, is producing surprise winners in a tough business climate: small technology companies based in the crisis-stricken country.
“I accept transfers. I have Tpago, Vippo and almost all the applications out there!” said Villegas, 35, as he clutched a worn-out tablet and a basic cellphone.
-snip-
Hyperinflation meets tech: Cash-scarce Venezuela sees boom in payment apps
Andreina Aponte, Corina Pons
5 MIN READ
CARACAS (Reuters) - Widerven Villegas and his brother wash some 30 cars a day at a parking lot in Caracas. Despite charging less than 50 cents, nobody pays them in cash.
In tech hubs from San Francisco to Tokyo, payment is conveniently made through software on phones and watches on a routine basis. Amid a dire economic crisis in Venezuela a similar innovation is taking hold, though for very different reasons.
People from vegetable sellers to taxi drivers have registered to use mobile payment applications to attract customers who do not have enough paper money, which is in short supply due to soaring prices. The maximum daily amount Venezuelans can withdraw from cash machines is around 10,000 bolivars, around 4 cents at the black market exchange rate.
Venezuela’s hyperinflation, one of the first of the digital era, is producing surprise winners in a tough business climate: small technology companies based in the crisis-stricken country.
“I accept transfers. I have Tpago, Vippo and almost all the applications out there!” said Villegas, 35, as he clutched a worn-out tablet and a basic cellphone.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-apps/hyperinflation-meets-tech-cash-scarce-venezuela-sees-boom-in-payment-apps-idUSKCN1FZ1E4
