Formulación de una estrategia nacional de inclusión financiera: La experiencia de Paraguay

Abstract

Paraguay’s real gross domestic product has grown an average of about 4 percent per year since 2005. According to the 2013 Paraguay financial inclusion survey (EIF), 2 29 percent of adults report having an account at a formal financial institution, a commonly used global metric of financial inclusion. Enhancing financial inclusion is critically important to economic growth, poverty reduction, and reducing income disparities and therefore is at the core of Paraguay’s poverty reduction strategy. It is one of the pillars of the national development plan, which has a series of objectives and development goals targeted for achievement by 2030. The government has been increasingly engaged in expanding access to financial services to a greater percentage of the population. The government recognized the need for a national financial inclusion strategy (NFIS) that was comprehensive and widely supported among stakeholders. As such the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) approached the financial sector reform and strengthening (FIRST) initiative to provide policy advice and technical assistance to support the development of an NFIS and to support the initial stages of implementation.