Paraguay

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Country summary

Capital

Asuncion

Borders

Argentina 1,880 km, Bolivia 750 km, Brazil 1,365 km

Government type

constitutional republic

Population

6,995,655 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

2.364% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

75.77 years[1]

Unemployment

7.9% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

81[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

154[3]

Doing Business ranking

124[4]


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.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Guaraní (ISO code: PYG)
  • Central bank discount rate: 20% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 28.26% (31 December 2009)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $2.062 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.599 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

  • Banking crisis: 1890, 1995-1999, 2002[5]
  • 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)[6]

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[7] 7 292 7 071 6 446 5 046 5 552 6 950 7 473 9 275 12 222 15 977
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8]
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9] 20.838 21.327 20.345 21.336
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10] 17.642 17.903 16.776 16.660
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Paraguay", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Paraguay", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Paraguay", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Paraguay", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 377-378. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  6. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 87. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Paraguay: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Paraguay: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Paraguay: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  10. ↑ World Bank. "Paraguay: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.

Links

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