Columbia International Affairs Online: Journals

CIAO DATE: 03/2014

Double Profit: Financing Consumers

Americas Quarterly

A publication of:
Council of the Americas

Volume: 0, Issue: 0 (Fall 2012)


Alana Tummino

Abstract

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

Full Text

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...