Brazil, new social currency in the Cidade de Deus favela, in Rio. 100 merchants have already signed up

It's called CDD, from the initials of the community of 38 people on the western outskirts of Rio. The goal is to stimulate the local economy and promote the sustainable development of the area, offering discounts of 5-10% if payment is made with the new banknotes. The initiative will also be followed by other favelas. The precedents in Europe and the United States

It is one of the poorest favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Is called City of God, a community of about 38 people made famous by the 2002 film of the same name.

Since last September 15, this community has had its own currency: the CDD, which takes its name from the initials of the favela founded in the 60s on the western outskirts of Rio. The currency, whose value is equal to the real, is put into circulation by the Community Bank, whose presidency and board of directors rest with the inhabitants of the neighborhood.

The initiative, not new in the South American country, it is not a novelty even on a global level: in fact, in Europe and the USA, to combat the euro and dollar crises, several villages or regions have adopted parallel economic systems, in order to preserve their local economy. It happened recently also in Italy, in the province of Frosinone, in protest against the government's budget package.

The objective of the new carioca social currency is to stimulate the local economy, encouraging the inhabitants to make purchases within the community. So far they are about a hundred merchants participating in the project and which offer discounts of 5-10% if the payment is made with CDDs.

The initiative was launched by the municipal administration of Rio de Janeiro for “promote the sustainable development of the territory”: "If there is no internal consumption, wealth moves to other areas of the city," explained the Councilor for Development Marcelo da Costa during the inauguration. The banknotes in circulation are 50 cents, 1, 2, 5 and 10 CDD and have the faces of the favela's symbolic inhabitants printed on them.

In the new bank, residents will have access to credit lines in real for investment and CDD for consumption. The next neighborhood to receive a social currency will be the Complexo do Alemão, an area of 13 favelas that hosts 65 people in the northern area of Rio de Janeiro, at the center last year of a violent war for control of the territory between drug traffickers and the police force.

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