Paraguay - Central Bank policies slow investment

The Paraguayan Central Bank successively raised interest rates to contract monetary supply and prevent runaway inflation; however the move is impeding investment and slowing production, according to the director of the Development in Democracy Foundation, Manuel Ferreira Brusquetti. At the end of February 2011, interest rates rose to 11 percent, compared to 6 percent over the same period in 2010. Brusquetti noted that while consumer credit in Paraguay is more expensive than in previous years, interest for the production sector has increased at a rate 10 times greater. (April 2011)