Paraguay Economy 1997

Economy - overview Paraguay has a market economy marked by a large informal sector. Theinformal sector features both reexport of imported consumer goods (electronics,whiskeys, perfumes, cigarettes, and office equipment) to neighboring countriesas well as by the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban streetvendors. The formal sector is largely oriented toward services, but a largepercentage of the population derive their living from agricultural activity,often on a subsistence basis. The formal economy has grown an average of 3%to 4% over the past five years. However, population has increased at 3% ayear over the same period, leaving per capita income nearly stagnant. TheWASMOSY government has continued to pursue its economic reform agenda - withmixed success - in close coordination with its partners in Mercosur (SouthernCone Common Market). Paraguay's ongoing integration into Mercosur offers potentialfor investment and growth. Although GDP grew by only about 1.5% in 1996, itis expected to grow at a higher rate in 1997.

GDP purchasing power parity - $17.7 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 1.5% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $3,200 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 26.3%
industry: 20.7%
services: 53% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 8.2% (December 1996)

Labor force
total: 1.8 million (1995 est.)
by occupation: agriculture 45%

Unemployment rate 5.3% (urban) (1995)

Budget
revenues : $1.25 billion (1995 est.)
expenditures: $1.66 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1995 est.)

Industries meat packing, oilseed crushing, milling, brewing, textiles, other lightconsumer goods, cement, construction

Industrial production growth rate 1.3% (1995 est.)

Electricity - capacity 6,927,500 kW (1995)

Electricity - production 41.625 billion kWh (1995)
note: exported about 37.9 million kW of electricity

Electricity - consumption per capita 616 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products cotton, sugarcane, soybeans, corn, wheat, tobacco, cassava (tapioca),fruits, vegetables; beef, pork, eggs, milk; timber

Exports
total value: $819.5 million (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: cotton, soybeans, timber, vegetable oils, meat products, coffee, tungoil
partners: EU 37%, Brazil 25%, Argentina 10%, Chile 6%, US 6%

Imports
total value: $2.871 billion (c.i.f., 1995)
commodities: capital goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, raw materials, fuels
partners : Brazil 30%, EU 20%, US 18%, Argentina 8%, Japan 7%

Debt - external $1.3 billion (1996)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $38 million (1993)

Currency 1 guarani (G) = 100 centimos

Exchange rates guaranies (G) per US$ - 2,139.1 (January 1997), 2,063.8 (1996), 1,970.4(1995), 1,911.5 (1994), 1,744.3 (1993), 1,500.3 (1992)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Paraguay on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Paraguay Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Paraguay Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.