The Central Bank of Paraguay can make a striking claim when compared with its Latin American peers: it has never had to adjust its currency, the guarani, because of spiralling inflation. After the Colombian peso, it is the oldest currency in the region and the central bank governor, Carlos Fernández Valdovinos, says: “This year we celebrate the 73rd anniversary of our currency; we never had to take away some zeros like Brazil or Argentina.”
The comparison is all the more significant given that Paraguay’s economic fate has traditionally been affected by its larger neighbours and partners in the Mercosur trade bloc. “This is a difficult neighbourhood but it has been difficult for the past 200 years,” says Mr Valdovinos. “We have developed some kind of immunity to whatever cycle, political or economic, they are going through.”
