Vice Ministry of MSMEs leads initiatives to expand financial inclusion in the sector

Asuncion, IP Agency.- The Vice Ministry of MSMEs is implementing actions such as alternative financing mechanisms, simplification of procedures and strategic alliances to promote the financial inclusion of microenterprises and entrepreneurs, reported its head Gustavo Giménez.

During the Panel: “Lending – Credit as financial inclusion” at Fintech Day, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) mentioned the efforts made in collaboration with other institutions to address the obstacles that prevent the financial inclusion of microenterprises.

He highlighted the holding of weekly working groups with the Superintendency of Banks, the Superintendency of Securities, the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering (Seprelad), the National Development Bank, and the MIC itself.

In this context, he indicated that work is being done on a provision with the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) to allow the opening of micro-business accounts, similar to accounts for individuals.

Other planned changes include the alternative financing mechanisms permitted by the MSME Law, in order to facilitate check, invoice and promissory note exchange operations through technological platforms.

Formalization

Regarding the formalization of microenterprises, he stressed that only 40% of the 366,000 Paraguayan MSMEs have some type of financial product in the system, while approximately 705,000 business units are in the informal sector.

Giménez stressed the importance of adjusting public policy to simplify formalization procedures and ensure that the process is agile, simple and digital, allowing microenterprises to immediately access financial opportunities.

To achieve these objectives, strategic alliances are being formed with entities such as BICSA and Equifax to analyse key information that facilitates credit decision-making.

Likewise, the MIC and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MITIC) are moving towards the implementation of an integrated information system that will allow sharing data from MSMEs and entrepreneurs with financial institutions, facilitating processes such as opening bank accounts online and in real time.