Despite the significant expansion of internet coverage in the region, internet service is used by 78% of citizens and the usage gap increases when analyzing certain population groups such as the elderly, low-income groups and inhabitants of rural areas.

Moreover, for those who use the service, the quality is much lower than in other more developed regions. These gaps in internet use and quality in the region, as well as the lack of digital skills of citizens, limit the use of digital technologies by households and condition the digitization of companies and States.

In the last 6 years, CAF has allocated USD 2,785 million in credit and technical cooperation operations to improve the coverage and quality of internet service in the region; digital inclusion and promote the digitization of companies and States.

CONTRIBUTION IN NUMBERS

These projects have a positive impact on economic growth, which translates into:

• Companies: higher productivity, production and exports,
• States: greater access and quality of the goods and services they provide, and
• People: greater benefits in the labor and welfare areas.

For example, access to quality Internet could increase business productivity between 3% and 9%; the employment rate between 3% and 13% -which would translate into an increase of 116 thousand new jobs in the countries benefiting from CAF's action- and labor income between 15% and 22%. Finally, the digitalization of the identity card process could reduce the time required to complete it by 40%.