(29 June 2011) Today the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, met with President Fernando Lugo to discuss matters of interest to Paraguay and the region as a whole, ahead of the 41st MERCOSUR summit meeting in Asunción.
The most senior representative of ECLAC, who has been invited to take part in this bi-annual meeting of MERCOSUR Heads of State, described Paraguay's economic situation as very good.
According to the senior United Nations official: "Last year the economy grew by over 15% and this year it is expected by grow by over 6% thanks to ever increasing commodity prices, and the improvements to productivity and investment in human capital".
Ms. Bárcena also urged the country to continue moving towards productive convergence for small, medium-sized and large enterprises, as well as to achieve a major social covenant to agree on, inter alia, tax reform to finance development projects.
The Executive Secretary of ECLAC stated that in this region "we tax little and ineffectively".
She added "We have seen that, throughout Latin America, there is a good opportunity to change the tax structure from indirect taxes to direct taxes that are more progressive and that have a redistributive capacity. This remains an ongoing challenge for Paraguay".
"Moving forward with fiscal reform is a country's challenge", declared Ms. Bárcena.
The States Parties of MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, while the Associate States are the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (which is in the process of becoming a full member).
The meeting in Asunción was attended by the Heads of State of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff; Ecuador, Rafael Correa; and Uruguay, José Mujica, as well as by other governmental and diplomatic representatives and special guests.
Any queries should be addressed to the ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section. E-mail: dpisantiago@cepal.org; Tel.: (56 2) 210 2040.
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