DEG promotes financial inclusion in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is one of the more stable and advanced economies in Central America. Nevertheless, large parts of the population still have no or not sufficient access to adequate financial services. DEG supports to improve the situation by providing a long-term local currency loan of USD 20 million to the Costa Rican cooperative bank Coopenae. Coopenae is using these funds to grant loans to private individuals, for example in the area of social housing, as well as to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

At the same time, DEG is continuing to support its long-standing customer Coopenae to further expand its financial education initiative, which has been running since 2017 and offers a range of workshops focused on financial topics. The initiative enables private individuals and owners of small businesses to choose the financial product that best meets their needs. In particular, it improves the understanding of financial services that are designed as a safety net, such as pensions or insurance policies, products that are especially important for marginalised parts of the population.

Moreover, the financial training programmes help members of the cooperative bank to become better at managing their income to avoid over-indebtedness. Recently, Coopenae also began offering online courses via its digital learning platform "Campus Virtual" as well as individual counselling sessions. DEG is planning to support these projects through its subsidiary DEG Impulse as part of its Business Support Services.

Coopenae is a customer of DEG since 2013 and offers various financial services such as loans, insurance and savings programmes. As the largest Costa Rican financial cooperative, it has around 220,000 members across the country, including approximately 5,500 small and medium-sized enterprises.