Don’t forget/still appreciate a good economic year despite the negative scenario

International organizations have lowered the economic forecast for Paraguay for 2022, as a result of various risks associated with this, mainly related to the weather and the wave of infection with the omicron variant of COVID-19. The drought took everyone by surprise and its negative effects were devastating, according to some economists.

With this said, a large fall in foreign exchange income of the economy and therefore a smaller movement in production is expected; But from the Ministry of Finance are still expecting a good economic year.

This was confirmed by the Deputy Minister of Financial Management, Marco Elisici, who highlighted, during an interview with Unicanal, that the public sector is optimistic by the end of last year. “From the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP), the indicators will be reviewed, which will have an impact. When we compare ourselves to similar years, such as 2009 and 2012 where there was also a drought, the impact was significant. This has an indirect impact on other related sectors,” he said. by farming.

It may interest you: The rains have brought relief to the productive sector, although there are already losses due to drought, according to the PMU.

The deputy minister explained that it is necessary to find out if these recorded rains can partially make up for what was already lost in January, which was the strongest month of drought. “We have to see in April what the review of the business continuity plan will be, but in any case, we are already seeing good indicators, with good demand and consumption, so we still think we will have a good year. We are still optimistic, but with a certain level of conservatism,” he noted. “.

Elisici stressed that they are aware of the risks that remain in the epidemic. “Our vaccination rate in Paraguay is still very low, and we have to insist that this is key in health matters. In the past year we have seen the results of other countries, where that means important value,” he said.

On the other hand, he indicated that the impact of this drought should be evaluated with La Niña, and the controls should be followed up. “Financially it will be a complex year as always, we are approaching a relatively good close. Our forecast for fiscal deficit is 3% of GDP for this year, while we closed last year below the set deficit level of 4%,” he added.

It may interest you: BCP approves fiscal measures to mitigate the impact of drought on agriculture