Cross-Border Payments Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean

Dimitris Drakopoulos, Yibin Mu, Dmitry Vasilyev and Mauricio Villafuerte

No 2024/119, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Cross-border payment inefficiencies are a significant barrier to trade both within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and between LAC and other regions. This paper provides a comprehensive review of historical efforts undertaken by various countries within the LAC region to address these challenges. We also explore the potential of recent financial innovations, such as digital currencies and blockchain technology, to enhance cross-border payments. While new technologies do not substitute for prudent and credible macroeconomic policies, leveraging these technologies can help LAC countries reduce transaction costs and times, thus enhancing economic efficiency and fostering deeper regional and global trade relationships.

Keywords: Cross-Border Payments; Financial Innovation; International Trade; Economic Integration.; LAC payment infrastructure; payment arrangement; cross-border payment inefficiency; integration in Latin America and the Caribbean; cross-border payments integration; Payment systems; Currencies; Financial inclusion; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Caribbean; Central America; South America; Global; East Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27
Date: 2024-06-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int and nep-pay
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=550522 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2024/119

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Akshay Modi ().