Bolivia makes advances in education and social inclusion

As a contribution to knowledge regarding the degree of financial education, CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, presented the results of the "Survey measuring financial capacities for Andean countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador , and Peru" in the city of La Paz. The survey, carried out with the participation of the Asociacion Solidaridad Paises Emergentes (ASPEM) (Association for Solidarity with Emerging Countries) and the support of the Italian cooperation, seeks to offer a contribution to those responsible for the execution of public policies in the financial sphere, as well as to the design and application of the country's inclusion and financial education strategies. 

Among other results, the survey reveals that the culture of savings, the informed selection of financial products, the comparison before choosing one, and financial education in general are aspects that are more developed in Bolivia compared with the other countries included in the study. 

CAF's Director Representative in Bolivia, Emilio Uquillas, contextualized the presentation citing the countless favorable transformations that the country has experienced during the past decade, including the financial sector, where a greater access of the population has been noted. He highlighted the increase in client support points (from 1,800 in 2007 to 4,700 in 2014), and the strenghtening of banking services with the increase of deposit accounts (from 1.8 million in 2007 to 7.8 million in 2014), among other aspects. 

He concluded "Despite these efforts, there are still opportunities today to improve, specially with respect to the population's education in a framework of responsibility, as the banking system is a public good whose resources come from the people's savings".  

Uquillas considers that the results of this study, where Bolivia has a "very strong" position with respect to the other countries, will contribute to the development of adequate tools to strengthen financial inclusion in the country. 

The surveyed universe in the four countries reached 4,871 individuals, almost 1,200 per country between men and women from all socio-economic strata. 

In the four countries, the research showed that there are lower financial capacities associated to people with limited levels of education, inactive or unemployed, residents from rural areas, or those belonging to lower socio-economic sectors.  

Among the most important challenges for the region is the development of inclusion policies that help reduce the gender, geographic, educational, and income gaps that allow people to access the financial system, thus improving the wellbeing and productivity of the population.  

Other data obtained from the survey shows that in the case of Bolivia, although 95 percent of the population knows at least one of the current financial products, 33 percent in urban areas and 43 percent in rural areas does not use any, and in similar percentages, they state that they have not chosen any in the past two years. With respect to the best known financial products, they include savings accounts, credit cards, and current accounts.  

The study also revealed that when facing economic problems, 38 percent of the people prefer to reduce their expenses, 37 percent state that they get extra jobs to earn some additional money, 27 percent asks family or friends for borrowed food or money, 10 percent withdraws money from savings, 10 percent pawns goods, 7 percent sells a specific good, and 6 percent buys food or goods on credit. It should be noted that some of those surveyed expressed that they  use two or more of the cited strategies.