Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas

Double Profit: Financing Consumers

Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe perils of consumer debt.
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Across Latin America, retailers, telecommunications companies and shopping malls are reaping the benefits of a growing middle class that is able to shop more and spend more. According to McKinsey & Company, Latin America is one of the largest emerging markets in the world with a combined GDP of $3.2 trillion, boasting triple the GDP per capita of China and seven times that of India.1

Greater consumer spending, however, is not just a middle-class phenomenon. Lower income populations want to buy the same flat-screen televisions and refrigerators; and if they lack the disposable income many turn to the business of consumer credit loans.

In Mexico, where 52 percent of the population lives on less than $80 a month2 and a large percentage of the population remains unbanked, consumer credit lending is soaring…

 
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