Publications

Structural analysis of financial inclusion and productivity, presented at the launch of the 2024 Financial Inclusion Report (RIF) by Banca de las Oportunidades and Superfinanciera. Despite near-universal deposit access and increased credit, pending tasks remain to boost productivity, growth, and well-being.

On April 28, Spain experienced one of the most serious electricity blackouts in its history. Beyond the immediate collapse in activity, the blackout had a clear impact on consumer spending—especially purchases made using digital payment methods.

BBVA customers' card spending fell sharply on April 28, 2025, due to the power outage that affected the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, spending by customers residing in the affected areas was 41 percentage points below the average observed on non-holiday Mondays in April 2024.

Colombia is advancing in artificial intelligence with the national policy CONPES 4144, which invests $479 million to boost productivity until 2030. It focuses on 6 pillars, promoting regional hubs and strengthening public-private collaboration to ensure equitable benefits, especially for SMEs and rural areas.

Five weeks after the DANA (December 3–9), most indicators in Valencia province displayed stronger performance than those in the rest of Spain. However, foreign card spending continued to lag behind the national growth rate.

Despite uncertainty and high interest rates, investment remains strong in countries like the U.S. and France, especially in intellectual property and ICT, but not in Spain, Canada, and most emerging markets. GDP growth remains key, but digitalization and climate transition policies will drive future investment.

This note provides some elements to describe how digitalization (through the Internet) contributes to financial inclusion to access and use formal financial services (digital financial inclusion), focusing mainly on savings and credit products.

Those who control the most powerful, smallest, and most value-added chips will have economic, political, and military hegemony in the 21st century.