Paraguay will take new economic actions

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Wednesday, July 6, Paraguay’s President, Mario Abdo Benítez, met with members of the National Economic Team (EEN) to analyze new palliative economic actions to face the second semester of the year, given the pandemic crisis and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

After the meeting led by the Minister of Finance, Óscar Llamosas, the President spoke to the media and stated that each of the economic measures to be adopted would imply a global injection of between US$1.2 billion and US$1.3 billion.

As a first action within the framework of the social plan, the head of state announced that the fare will be maintained for the remainder of the year, despite the constant increases in the fuel cost that are being registered and are still expected.

To allow for this, the Government decided to increase the amount of the subsidy received by the transportation companies for each ticket; that is to say, in case the real costs of the ticket increase, the differences will be covered by the subsidy.

At the same time, he pointed out that it is intended to increase by 17,000 the number of beneficiaries of the Senior Citizens and Tekoporã programs. In the case of the former, some 14,700 new beneficiaries will be incorporated, while Tekoporã will seek to include some 2,700 new families.

Likewise, Mario Abdo Benítez pointed out that extra payment will be added to all this for the second subsidy mentioned. Although he said that the new beneficiaries would be incorporated “as soon as possible”, he pointed out that for this new Tekoporã payment, it is still necessary to work with the Ministry of Social Development (MDS).

Regarding tax measures, the President said that the value-added tax (VAT) reduction would be extended again for the hotel, events, tourism, gastronomic, and commercial rental sectors. The selective consumption tax (ISC) reduction for fuel will be maintained.

Regarding public investment, Mario Abdo emphasized that the National Economic Team aims to generate 50,000 new jobs through the construction of works and new housing. The latter is through the Ministry of Urbanism, Housing, and Habitat (MUVH).

With information from América Retail