Public debt reached USD 18.33 billion (40.7% of GDP, which stands at USD 45 billion), of which USD 12.47 billion is external debt (27.7% of GDP). A pension fund system would help mobilize domestic savings and reduce reliance on international loans. Paraguay’s formal workforce totals 1.18 million workers, with an average monthly wage of USD 413. If each worker contributed 10% (USD 41.3), this would generate USD 584.9 million per year.

In Paraguay’s economic history, agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have served as beacons amid financial storms: necessary guides, yet not without their challenges and controversies.

In 2019 and 2020, Paraguay faced a devastating combination of external and internal shocks that hit its economy like a hurricane: the 2019 drought and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. These events, occurring in quick succession, destabilized public finances, tested the country’s fiscal resilience, and exposed structural vulnerabilities in its economic system.