WITH ALL DELIBERATE DELAY: ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL REFORM IN PARAGUAY

As we enter the 21st century, Paraguay, a country of 5.2m people, is only "reluctantly" and at "glacial speed" making tentative moves to put in place the necessary ingredients to promote sustained growth and development within a fiercely competitive regional and global economy to the end of enhancing living standards. Using a well-tested framework to assess Paraguay's progress -or more precisely the lack of it - in implementing the needed reforms, the paper also identifies the nation's challenges and opportunities into the first decade of the new century. This paper was presented at the 11th International Conference in Washington, D.C., May 2001.