On July 16, 2020, the meeting of the "Experts Group on Financial Inclusion Policy" (EGFIP) of the Latin America and the Caribbean Initiative (FILAC) took place through a virtual meeting. This meeting was supposed to be held physically in Suriname, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it took place virtually.

FILAC is the platform for institutions that are members of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) to share and support their policies and regulatory frameworks related to financial inclusion development. The topics discussed during this meeting are: MSMEs, Gender and Digital Financial Services.

Mr. Norbert Mumba, Deputy Executive Director of AFI made the opening statement on behalf of AFI. In his opening speech, he emphasized the importance of digital financial services during the COVID-19 pandemic that the world is now in, especially for vulnerable groups such as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and women.

Mr. William Orie, Deputy Governor for Monetary and Economic Affairs, delivered the opening speech on behalf of the Governor of the Central Bank of Suriname. Mr. Orie indicated, among other things, that Suriname was also affected by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital financial services have also become indispensable for Suriname, in particular for making financial products and services available to the community, in particular residents in remote areas. The Central Bank of Suriname has already taken various steps to improve this and further stimulate it. Cherida Pollack-Hoogvliets of the International Relations Department also shared a PowerPoint presentation on the topic “Suriname's Journey on Financial Inclusion”.

Furthermore, during the meeting, the various Central Banks in the region provided an update on their COVID-19 crisis responses and policy solutions for MSMEs, among others, with a specific focus on digital financial services, SME financing and gender inclusive financing.

On July 17, AFI will provide a Public Private Development Training in collaboration with MasterCard. The aim of this training is to share insights on how to promote digital financial inclusion of MSMEs through technology, education and partnerships.

Photo 1 and 2: Deputy Governor, William Orie during the opening speech.

Photo 3: Cherida Pollack-Hoogvliet (left) and Vanessa D'Costa-Chehin (right) of the International Relations Department participated as well.