BIS Working Paper 989: 'CBDCs in Latin America and the Caribbean'

'Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in Latin America and the Caribbean' 

Viviana Alfonso, Steven Kamin and Fabrizio Zampolli 

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CMPI) carried out a survey of central banks in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) asking about their work on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) on behalf of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in late 2020 and the first half of 2021. 13 central banks in LAC replied to the first survey and a further eight replied when contacted in 2021. 

The goals were to:

• Understand their views about CBDCs,

• See if their engagement could be explained by the structural characteristics of their economies,

• Assess the relevance of the potential benefits, risks and costs of CBDCs to their economies,

• Review the design options and design choices already made.