Guatemala is currently in the research phase, according to reporting in Reuters.

CBDC History and Development

In 2021, it was announced that both the central banks in Guatemala and Honduras were considering CBDCs following El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. According to Reuters, “The central bank presidents for Honduras and Guatemala both said the banks were studying digital currencies with the aim of eventually introducing them into the economy.” Banco De Guatemala vice president Jose Alfredo Blanco said, “It will take perhaps a long time to complete the investigation phase.”

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

Guatemala earned a 49 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2023 Freedom in the World report. As Freedom House noted in the report, corruption is a significant issue in Guatemala. As it stands, the issuance or adoption of a CBDC in Guatemala could worsen these issues.

Since 2019, “authorities and lawmakers have obstructed the fight against corruption; prosecutions have stalled; and many high-profile cases have lost momentum or are being taken apart,” according to Freedom House. “Judges, prosecutors, and civil society actors committed to tackling corruption have increasingly been the targets of physical attacks, threats, malicious lawsuits, and defamation campaigns.” The existence of pervasive corruption is a major concern with CBDCs because it calls into question any promises that might be made by the government to limit surveillance, control, or other risks of CBDCs. Furthermore, the existence of corruption calls into question whether CBDC policies might be designed to exert political favoritism through subsidies, price controls, or other targeted restrictions.

For additional information on concerns regarding violations of human rights and civil liberties, see the following reports by Amnesty International, Financial Tyranny Index, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and the U.S. Department of State. For additional information on concerns regarding the risks of CBDCs, see the following webpage and report by the Cato Institute: The Risks of CBDCs and Central Bank Digital Currency: Assessing the Risks and Dispelling the Myths.

For additional information regarding metrics, the methodology page explains each of the data points and provides their respective sources.