digital payment infrastructure

Instant payments can substitute for cash when adoption moves quickly beyond high-income early users. Evidence from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico finds that the key is a rapid low-income gradient: systems must combine low adoption costs, dense networ...

Digital payments in Latin America have rapidly replaced cash – driven by innovation, interoperability, and policy – delivering gains in convenience, financial inclusion, efficiency, and growth, while raising complex challenges around informality and regulation.