The BCRA Has Signed an Agreement with Misiones to Promote Financial Education

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Miguel Pesce, President of the BCRA, and Oscar Herrera Ahuad, Governor of the province of Misiones, signed today an agreement at the BCRA for cooperation in financial education. The purpose of the agreement is to strengthen users’ skills and knowledge, and boost the financial inclusion of the most vulnerable sectors.

Thus, Misiones joins the provinces that have already signed an agreement with the BCRA in 2021: Santa Fe, San Juan, Neuquén, Chaco and Formosa. The BCRA’s financial education programs, developed from a federal perspective, have proved to be successful in those provinces, with a record number of participants (both teachers and students).

Through these programs, 2,210 teachers, almost 150,000 secondary school students, and more than 37,000 family members and other citizens of the community have received financial education between 2020 and 2021. In addition, the virtual format allowed for the participation of a large number of schools in rural areas (26% out of 1,283 participating schools).

The BCRA has been implementing the program called Finance Nearby. It intends to reach the most vulnerable communities in terms of economic and social factors, as well as gender and age, among others.

During the event, the President of the BCRA highlighted the importance of financial education. "Nowadays, we need to include and educate people financially, and this is a task we are facing with the provinces. We are a federal country,” pointed out Pesce. He added: “It is a challenge because physical money is being replaced by electronic transactions. The BCRA is making every effort to boost this kind of transactions; they are very useful because they ease payments to small- and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across our country, for example, those from Misiones.”

In turn, Herrera Ahuad pointed out the potentiality of the agreement. “It is very important to us, as a province, to have the possibility to redouble training, thus broadening knowledge, which is crucial today for managing finances and the economy as well,” he said, and then concluded: “I am particularly pleased with this agreement because the BCRA has always been seen as an institution only concerned with macroeconomic issues, even elusive. Now the financial education program talks very well of public policies.”

Sergio Woyecheszen, BCRA Vice President; Gastón Repetto, Financial Inclusion Senior Manager; and Mariano Iglesias, Financial Education Manager, attended the event. Adolfo Safrán, Minister of Economy, Finance, Public Services and Works of the province of Misiones, was also present.

Agreement with Misiones

This agreement with the province of Misiones will be effective for three years, and provides for joint courses of action, such as:

- Designing, fostering, and assessing actions addressed to students of different educational levels.

- Promoting training programs for teachers, both online and face-to-face.

- Executing educational actions aimed at people from vulnerable groups in society, such as the retired and pensioners, social security beneficiaries, and informal workers.

In addition, the agreement provides that the BCRA and the Ministry of Economy, Finance, Public Services and Works of Misiones shall sign complementary agreements. The head of the ministry will coordinate efforts among the other provincial agencies involved.

October 26, 2021.

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