Customers of the mobile operator Zain can now send money by mobile across East Africa and beyond from the Mobile Money M-Gurush service. Money can be sent in dollars or South Sudanese pounds. This new feature was officially launched during a ceremony chaired by the Governor of the Bank of South Sudan, Jamal Wani Abdalla.
According to him, “the service will be particularly beneficial for South Sudanese living in East Africa, who will now be able to receive money using existing mobile money services such as M-Pesa in Kenya and MTN Mobile Money in Uganda. This will further boost socio-economic development in South Sudan and digitally connect South Sudan to its other counterparts in the East African Community. ”
Mou Ambrose Thiik, M-Gurush’s chief operating officer, said when the service launched that several new destinations will be added in the coming weeks. For him, “Sub-Saharan Africa and South Sudan, in particular, are one of the corridors transfer most expensive capital in the world, a service like this will significantly reduce the cost of international remittances in Sudan from South. From a fiscal policy standpoint, this service will increasingly position the South Sudanese pound as the currency of choice since a currency derives its value from its ability to transact.”