Country Focus: Paraguay

Location: Central South America, northeast of Argentina

Population: 6,347,884 (July 2005 est.)

Total Area: 406,750 sq km - slightly smaller than California

Climate: subtropical to temperate; substantial rainfall in the eastern portions, becoming semiarid in the far west

Natural resources: hydropower, timber, iron ore, manganese, limestone
Environment - current issues: deforestation; water pollution; inadequate means for waste disposal pose health risks for many urban residents; loss of wetlands.

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands. Signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements .National holiday: Independence Day, 14 May 1811 (observed 15 May annually)

Economy - brief 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 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 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 desease.

Budget: revenues: $1.334 billion. Expenditures: $1.37 billion, including capital expenditures of $700 million (2005 est.)

Labor force: 2.68 million (2005 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 45%
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

Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - imports: NA

Oil - exports: NA

Exports: $3.13 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Exports - partners: Uruguay 27.8%, Brazil 19.2%, Argentina 6.3%, Switzerland 4.1% (2004)

Imports: $3.832 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Imports - partners: Brazil 30.9%, Argentina 23.3%, China 16.6%, US 4% (2004)

Government departments:
Presidencia de la República [Presidency of the Republic]
Dirección General de Estadísticas, Encuestas y Censos (DGEEC) [General Directorate of Statistics, Opinion Surveys and Census]
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (MRE) [Ministry of External Relations]
Ministerio de Industria y Comercio (MIC) [Ministry of Industry and Commerce]

Media:
Última Hora (Asunción)
Aktuelle Rundschau
Viva Paraguay

Travel Information:
Lonely Planet Destinations

Other useful links:
Ethnologue report for Paraguay
Paraguay - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Paraguay - Amnesty International

News headlines
Wales names squad for Paraguay game Irish Sun 21:16 18-Feb-06
Presidential praise for Paraguay Partner BirdLife International 12:20 17-Feb-06
Paraguay finds oil, natural gas Irish Sun 07:14 17-Feb-06
Spanish FM in Paraguay Irish Sun 07:14 17-Feb-06

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