Economy
Paraguay has been recently ranked by several research studies as the cheapest country in the world, measured through Purchasing Power Parity. Prices, measured in dollars, euros or British pounds are very low.
Economy - overview Paraguay has a market economy marked by a large informal sector. The informal sector features both reexport of imported consumer goods to neighboring countries as well as the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban street vendors. Because of the importance of the informal sector, accurate economic measures are difficult to obtain. A large percentage of the population derives their living from agricultural activity, often on a subsistence basis. The formal economy grew by an average of about 3% annually in 1995-97, but GDP declined slightly in 1998, 1999, and 2000. On a per capita basis, real income has stagnated at 1980 levels. Most observers attribute Paraguay's poor economic performance to political uncertainty, corruption, lack of progress on structural reform, substantial internal and foreign debt, and deficient infrastructure. however, in 2010 paraguay registraded an outstanding 15,270 % of GPD growth. GDP purchasing power parity - $26.2 billion 2001 est. GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $4,600 2001 est.
Geography
With an area of about 406.000 sq km, Paraguay is divided into two regions: Oriental and Occiedental by the Paraguay River. Despite being landlocked, the country is bordered and criss-crossed by navigable rivers.
The Tropic of Capricorn also crosses the country from East to West and determines a more tropical climate to the North and subtropical to temperate climate to the South.