Central Bank of Brazil presents research showing women and Black people pay more for credit in Brazil

The Central Bank of Brazil held an event during the 13th National Financial Education Week to present findings from its Financial Citizenship Report 2025 and Sebrae research on gender, race and access to credit in Brazil. The studies indicate that women participate in the financial system at levels similar to men, but with different and less favorable financial outcomes, including greater use of low value transactional instruments, a credit mix more concentrated in unsecured products, lower participation in investments, higher income commitment to debt, lower financial resilience and higher financial stress. The report also found that women paid more for credit than men within the same race, and that Black people paid more than white people within the same gender. The 2025 report expands the analysis by race for the first time and updates earlier breakdowns by gender, age and income across access to the financial system, credit use, service quality and financial literacy. A Sebrae contribution on female entrepreneurship highlights the need to adapt financial products and service delivery for women balancing business activity with care responsibilities, and points to cultural assumptions that women entrepreneurs are less capable than men, with effects ranging from higher interest rates to insecurity and weaker entrepreneurial initiative. The event also presented qualitative research on financial education for women and included a discussion on measures to improve women’s financial well-being.