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. 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 - $26.2 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 0% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $4,600 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 29%
industry: 26%
services: 45% (2000 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) 7.2% (2001 est.)

Labor force 2 million (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation agriculture 45%

Unemployment rate 17.8% (2001 est.)

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

Industries sugar, cement, textiles, beverages, wood products

Industrial production growth rate 0% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production 53.056 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 0.04%
hydro: 99.85%
other: 0.11% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 1.95 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 47.392 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 0 kWh (2000)

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

Exports $2.2 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities electricity, soybeans, feed, cotton, meat, edible oils

Exports - partners Brazil 39%, Uruguay 14%, Argentina 11% (2000)

Imports $2.7 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

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

Imports - partners Argentina 25.4%, Brazil 24.5%, Uruguay 3.8% (2000)

Debt - external $2.9 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $NA

Currency guarani (PYG)

Currency code PYG

Exchange rates guarani per US dollar - 4,783.0 (January 2002), 4,107.7 (2001), 3,486.4 (2000), 3,119.1 (1999), 2,726.5 (1998), 2,177.9 (1997); note - since early 1998, the exchange rate has operated as a managed float; prior to that, the exchange rate was determined freely in the market

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Paraguay on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Paraguay Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Paraguay Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.