Economy - overview:
Landlocked Paraguay has a market economy marked by a large informal sector. This 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 its living from agricultural activity, often on a subsistence basis. The formal economy grew by an average of about 3% annually in 1995-97, but averaged near-zero growth in 1998-2001 and contracted by 2.3 percent in 2002, in response to regional contagion and an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. 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. Aided by a firmer exchange rate and perhaps a greater confidence in the economic policy of the DUARTE FRUTOS administration, the economy rebounded between 2003 and 2006, posting modest growth each year.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$30.64 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$7.696 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3.2% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$4,700 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 22.4%
industry: 18.4%
services: 59.2% (2006 est.)

Labor force:
2.742 million (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 45%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Unemployment rate:
9.4% (2005 est.)

Population below poverty line:
32% (2005 est.)

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

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
56.8 (1999)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
9% (2006 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
19.3% of GDP (2006 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.773 billion
expenditures: $1.733 billion; including capital expenditures of $700 million (2006 est.)

Public debt:
30.9% of GDP (2006 est.)

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

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

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

Electricity - production:
51.77 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - consumption:
3.133 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - exports:
45.01 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2004)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption:
27,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day (2001)

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

Current account balance:
$-300 million (2006 est.)

Exports:
$1.69 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

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

Exports - partners:
Uruguay 28.4%, Brazil 19.3%, Argentina 6.4%, Russia 6%, China 4.1% (2005)

Imports:
$4.5 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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

Imports - partners:
Brazil 27.2%, China 20.5%, Argentina 19.7%, US 5.3%, Switzerland 4.2% (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$1.543 billion (2006 est.)

Debt - external:
$3.722 billion (2006 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$NA

Currency (code):
guarani (PYG)

Exchange rates:
guarani per US dollar - 5,680.71 (2006), 6,178 (2005), 5,974.6 (2004), 6,424.3 (2003), 5,716.3 (2002)