Miguel Pesce, President of the BCRA, and Omar Perotti, Governor of the Province of Santa Fe, signed today a master agreement for cooperation in financial education. It seeks to promote and strengthen users’ knowledge and skills so that they can make informed decisions about savings, consumption and investment.
This agreement is part of BCRA’s federal educational programs. The objective is to extend financial education across the country, and to strengthen the financial inclusion of the most vulnerable sectors. The BCRA has already been carrying out activities in this direction together with different provincial governments. Besides, it has been producing teaching material in cooperation with the Argentine Ministry of Education.
During an event at the BCRA, Pesce highlighted the importance of education and inclusion. In his words, “Education and inclusion embody two traditional ideals of popular movements in Argentina, which we actually endorse”. He also commented on the need to bring financial knowledge to every corner of our society and on the role of education in this process: “By educating we ensure that most of the population, even people with low income, learn fundamental financial literacy skills to operate a bank account and be protected from potential crimes or scams”. He concluded: “The BCRA cannot do it in isolation; we have to make the most of the provinces’ education infrastructure.”
In turn, Perotti highlighted the scope of the agreement. “We have signed a fruitful agreement for each of our students along their lifetime”, he said, and remarked the importance of becoming aware of the way the financial system works. He went on saying: “Schools and students will contribute towards spreading knowledge, which will allow us to ensure that bank transactions are secure. It will also allow everyone to plan their savings and income.”
Sergio Woyecheszen, BCRA Vice President; Jorge Carrera, Member of the Board, and Candelaria González del Pino, Secretary of Federal Management of the province, were also present at the event. Adriana Cantero, Minister of Education of the province, and Daniela Bossio, Financial Regulations Deputy General Manager of the BCRA, among other officers, attended the event virtually.
BCRA’s Financial Literacy Programs.
Financial literacy programs are aimed at promoting the use of available services and encourage users to make informed decisions with a focus on the comparison and choice of financial products, saving and investment strategies, use of electronic means of payments and electronic channels for different transactions, and credit instruments, just to mention a few.
In 2020, the BCRA made courses available online for 567 teachers (from the provinces of Catamarca, San Luis and Neuquén), who worked in classroom with 5,965 students from 166 schools (51 of which are rural schools). Students carried out activities with the aim of sharing the knowledge and skills so acquired with their community (family, senior citizens, neighbors, among others).
Agreement with Santa Fe
The Agreement with Santa Fe was signed for three years and establishes, among other matters, joint courses of action:
-Designing, fostering, and assessing financial education actions addressed to students of different educational levels.
-Promoting training programs for teachers.
-Executing educational actions aimed at people from vulnerable groups in society, such as the retired and pensioners, social security beneficiaries, and informal workers.
May 5, 2021.