Diwa C. Guinigundo
In the last quarter of 2019, this column discussed in three parts the whys and wherefores of financial literacy. We were inspired by the earlier discussions during the first Asia Pacific Financial Education Institute organized by our friend Dave Fernandez, director of Singapore Management University’s Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics, where I serve as member of its Advisory Board.
The key takeaway from those discussions is that financial literacy is relevant in making economic growth more sustainable by addressing income inequality and poverty. Borrowing the analogy used by Annamaria Lusardi of Italy’s Financial Education Committee and George Washington University, financial literacy is the water in the ecosystem of the real economy and the financial system.