Paraguay Economy - 2004

Economy - overview:
Paraguay has a market economy marked by a large informal sector. The informal sector features both reexport of imported consumer goods to neighboring countries as well as the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban street vendors. Because of the importance of the informal sector, accurate economic measures are difficult to obtain. A large percentage of the population derives their living from agricultural activity, often on a subsistence basis. The formal economy grew by an average of about 3% annually in 1995-97; but GDP declined slightly in 1998, 1999, and 2000, rose slightly in 2001, only to fall again in 2002. On a per capita basis, real income has stagnated at 1980 levels. Most observers attribute Paraguay's poor economic performance to political uncertainty, corruption, lack of progress on structural reform, substantial internal and external debt, and deficient infrastructure.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $28.03 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
1.3% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $4,600 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 27%
industry: 27%
services: 46% (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line:
36% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 43.8% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
57.7 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
10.5% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
2.5 million (2002 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 45%

Unemployment rate:
16.4% (2002 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.3 billion
expenditures: $2 billion, including capital expenditures of $700 million (1999 est.)

Industries:
sugar, cement, textiles, beverages, wood products, steel, metallurgic, electric power

Industrial production growth rate:
0% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production:
44.89 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 0%
hydro: 99.9%
other: 0.1% (2001)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:
2.637 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
39.11 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
25,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

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

Exports:
$2.727 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
soybeans, feed, cotton, meat, edible oils, electricity, wood, leather

Exports - partners:
Brazil 29.8%, Argentina 18%, Chile 5.5%, Bermuda 4% (2002)

Imports:
$2.77 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
road vehicles, consumer goods, tobacco, petroleum products, electrical machinery

Imports - partners:
Brazil 28.9%, US 22.5%, Argentina 17.7%, Uruguay 4.7%, Hong Kong 4.3%, China 4.1% (2002)

Debt - external:
$3.2 billion (2002 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$NA (2001)

Currency:
guarani (PYG)

Currency code:
PYG

Exchange rates:
guarani per US dollar - 6,424.34 (2003), 5,716.26 (2002), 4,105.92 (2001), 3,486.35 (2000), 3,119.07 (1999)