Paraguay

Paraguay achieved its independence from Spain in 1811. In the disastrous War of the Triple Alliance (1865-70) - between Paraguay and Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay - Paraguay lost two-thirds of all adult males and much of its territory. The country stagnated economically for the next half century. Following the Chaco War of 1932-35 with Bolivia, Paraguay gained a large part of the Chaco lowland region. The 35-year military dictatorship of Alfredo STROESSNER ended in 1989, and, despite a marked increase in political infighting in recent years, Paraguay has held relatively free and regular presidential elections since then.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Guaraní (ISO code: PYG)
* Central bank discount rate: 20% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 28.26% (31 December 2009)
* Stock of money (M1): $2.062 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.599 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Paraguay: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	7 292	7 071	6 446	5 046	5 552	6 950	7 473 	9 275 	12 222	15 977
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Paraguay: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Paraguay: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	20.838	21.327	20.345	21.336
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Paraguay: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.	 	 	 	 	 	 	17.642	17.903	16.776	16.660
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Paraguay on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Paraguay
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries