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Mozambique Restores Bank-Payments System After Five-Day Outage

Mozambique Restores Bank-Payments System After Five-Day Outage

(Bloomberg) -- Mozambique’s banking-payments system is functioning normally again after automated-teller and card-swiping machines stopped working across the country last week, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário said.

Cardholders had been unable to access most services since Nov. 16, leading to long lines at bank branches as customers sought to withdraw cash from tellers. Retailers were losing as much as 90 percent of their daily revenues, and hotels and restaurants 70 percent, according to the country’s biggest business association.

“The system is working,” Do Rosario told lawmakers Wednesday in Maputo, the capital. “However, we urge stakeholders to ensure the implementation of a long-lasting and sustainable system.”

Banks including units of Standard Bank Group Ltd. and Barclays Bank Mozambique SA were affected by the outage.

--With assistance from Matthew Hill.

To contact the reporter on this story: Borges Nhamire in Maputo at bnhamire@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Robert Brand

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