This report is the result of a collaborative effort by the OECD and Paraguay. It was carried out under the leadership of the OECD Development Centre, with the collaboration of the Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE) and the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay. The report builds on analytical work, on a strategic foresight workshop held in Asunción in November 2022 during a fact-finding mission, and on a series of policy workshops held in October and November 2023, as part of a process to support policy dialogue on the model of development of Paraguay.
The work leading to this report was finalised under the leadership of Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir, Director of the OECD Development Centre, and of Romina Boarini, Director of the Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE). The work was co-ordinated by Juan Ramón de Laiglesia and Sebastián Nieto Parra (OECD Development Centre). The report was drafted by Cristina Cabutto, Juan R. de Laiglesia and Kerstin Schopohl (OECD Development Centre). Laura Buchet, Laura Gutiérrez and Nathalia Montoya (OECD Development Centre) contributed specific subsections building on the series of policy workshops organised as part of the process. Irene Clavijo also contributed analytical inputs to the report. The adaptation of the OECD Recovery Dashboard to Paraguay was contributed by Žiga Žarnić, with support from Fernando Riaza and Adrián Tamariz (all from WISE). Laura Buchet, Olivia Cuq, Laura Gutiérrez and Nathalia Montoya (OECD Development Centre) also contributed to the organisation of the policy workshops in fall 2023.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, under the leadership of Vice Ministers Raúl Cano, Enrique Franco and Patricia Frutos, was an exemplary counterpart throughout the implementation of the project. The OECD team is grateful for the contributions made by ministry staff in bilateral meetings, and for their skilful co-ordination of contributions from across the Paraguay administration. Special thanks go to the tireless engagement of Enrique Carrillo, Director for Economic Multilateral Organizations, and his staff, especially René Figueredo, and to Ambassador Cynthia Filártiga and her staff in the Embassy of Paraguay in Paris, notably Mónica Cepede, Octavio Ferreira and Santiago Sánchez.
The team is grateful for insightful contributions made during bilateral encounters, during the foresight workshop “Paraguay and its post-pandemic development strategy: vision and challenges” held in Asunción on 25 November 2022, and during the three policy workshops co-organised by the OECD, the Government of Panama and the Government of Paraguay in 2023: “Financing a sustainable future: the role of green, social, sustainable and sustainability-linked bonds in channelling public and private capital towards a new development model”, held on 18 October 2023, “SME support and formalization policies for a new development model for the post-COVID era”, held on 13 November 2023, and “Towards social protection systems with universal coverage: social coverage for independent workers”, held on 21 November 2023. The team is grateful to Minister Luis Castiglioni, Vice Ministers Isaac Godoy and Gustavo Giménez, (Ministry of Industry and Commerce, MIC), Minister Mónica Recalde and her team in the Ministry for Labour, Employment and Social Security, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and especially Juan José Galeano, Director of Economic Studies, the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Carmen Ubaldi and María José Méndez (UTGS), the Technical Secretariat for Economic and Social Development Planning (STP), and the Development Finance Agency (AFD). The team also appreciates the engagement of representatives of civil society and the private sector including Dionisio Borda, Fernando Masi and especially Verónica Serafini (CADEP), Guillermina de Imlach (ASOMIPYMES), Enrique Duarte, President of the Federation of Production, Industry and Commerce (FEPRINCO) and his team, Jazmín Gustale Gill (iThinkVC) and Beltrán Macchi (ASOBAN). Insights from international policy experiences were provided by Jorge Castaño (former Finance Superindendent, Colombia), and by representatives of AMPYME (Panama), the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Panama and especially Vice Minister Carlos González Miranda, the Ministry of the Environment of Panama, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uruguay, the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay, the Social Security Fund of Costa Rica, the Inter-American Development Bank and its IDB-Lab, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Iberoamerican Organisation of Social Security (OISS). The final report also incorporates insights from the review of an interim version by the Mutual Learning Group for Multi-dimensional Country Reviews (MLG-MDCR) during its annual meeting held on 26 October 2023.
This project would not have been possible without the financial support of the European Union’s Regional Facility for Development in Transition for Latin America and the Caribbean. The team is grateful to Matteo Sirtori, Head of Cooperation in the European Union Delegation in Asunción, and his team, especially Helen Conefrey and Vera Valente, as well as to Adolfo Campos of the EU Delegation in Panama for their insights and support in the implementation of this project.
The report was edited by David Macdonald and prepared for publication by Elizabeth Nash and Delphine Grandrieux.
* This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.