Autor: Marcelo Echague Pastore

Universidad Americana (Paraguay)

 

Modalidad: Online

 

Abstract:

In the last couple of decades, Paraguay has experienced a remarkable degree of economic and political stability that have enabled the country to achieve important levels of growth and development in several fields. This indeed is not negligible in the context of a traditionally unstable Latin American region, but also because Paraguay itself has rarely benefitted of such a long period of soundness across its more than 200 years of independent -yet convulsive- history.

 

As expected, the abovementioned situation provides a more than valuable opportunity for the country to ensure that such economic growth and concomitant development are not fleeting but that can actually be sustainable in time and environmentally friendly, hence continuously improving the welfare of the Paraguayan population without jeopardizing its intrinsic (natural) resources. Any opportunity then brings about a number of aspects and challenges that policy makers will have to consider and eventually address in order to effectively materialize such a chance into real long-lasting and eco-friendly development.

 

The research at hand is therefore intended to share some relevant thoughts and considerations about the current state of the Paraguayan development process, while attempting to identify some crucial policy actions that can maximize the probabilities of a successful development story for this country or, to put it in different words, to reduce the risk of falling into a middle-income trap that perpetuates the - characteristically Latin American- vicious circle of poverty and inequality.

 

Specifically, this study will then examine Paraguay’s socioeconomic development path undertaken since 2003, thus highlighting its main features, outcomes and chief remaining obstacles for the future. In light of the latter, it will also provide some useful considerations and policy recommendations that could be of help to incumbent Government officials in their efforts to ensure a sustainable development for this country.