Paraguay

Paraguay achieved its independence from Spain in 1811. In the disastrous War of the Triple Alliance (1865-70) - between Paraguay and Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay - Paraguay lost two-thirds of all adult males and much of its territory. The country stagnated economically for the next half century. Following the Chaco War of 1932-35 with Bolivia, Paraguay gained a large part of the Chaco lowland region. The 35-year military dictatorship of Alfredo STROESSNER ended in 1989, and, despite a marked increase in political infighting in recent years, Paraguay has held relatively free and regular presidential elections since then.

Economical characteristics

 * Currency: Guaraní (ISO code: PYG)
 * Central bank discount rate: 20% (31 December 2008)
 * Commercial banks lending rate: 28.26% (31 December 2009)
 * Stock of money (M1): $2.062 billion (31 December 2008)
 * Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.599 billion (31 December 2008)

Notable events:

 * Banking crisis: 1890, 1995-1999, 2002
 * Years in inflation: 11.1% (share of years 1811-2009 with annual inflation above 20 per cent per annum)
 * Public default: 1874-1885, 1892-1895, 1920-1924, 1932-1944, 1968-1969, 1986-1992, 2003-2004(external)

Links

 * Paraguay on Wikipedia
 * Central bank of Paraguay
 * Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
 * Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
 * BBC country profile
 * Argentina cash controls and weak peso bring bargains, headaches, news.com.au, June 2013