The government of Mexico announced that the country’s central bank will issue its own digital currency. The statement of the official account of the presidency of Mexico informed that the development should be ready towards 2024, and remarked about the importance the technology has for the future of the financial structure of the country.
Banxico will issue a digital peso
A statement released by Mexico’s official Twitter account said the institution was planning to issue its own digital currency. The announcement also indicated that this development is likely to occur around 2024, placing the country on the list of nations that are studying or planning to release their own central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The issued statement declared:
The Banxico reports that by 2024 it will have its own digital currency in circulation, considering these new technologies and the next-generation payment infrastructure are extremely important as options of great value to advance financial inclusion in the country.
Mexico lacks financial inclusion
Mexico is among the five countries with the least financial inclusion in the world, according to a study by a company called the Merchant Machine. The study, which was published in March, found that Morocco, Vietnam, Egypt, the Philippines and Mexico are the countries with the largest unbanked populations.
This data is backed by findings of the Banking Association of Mexico, which recognizes that 53% of the adults in the country do not have a bank account, and 7 out of 10 do not have access to credit. This represents a problem in the Mexican economy, that has to deal with a lack of trust that citizens have in financial products and services and the complications that citizens have to face in accessing these services.
Other countries, like the Bahamas (which launched the Sand Dollar) and China (which released its digital renminbi), are already in the process of implementing their central bank digital currencies, even running tests or allowing citizens to use them for retail purchases in certain cases. . The EU is also still studying the launch of a digital euro.
