MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay reports new customs surplus but health authorities need more money to face the pandemic

“We no longer have a peso split in two,” Minister Borba said.

Revenues for May at Paraguay's Customs Directorate (DNA) were estimated at around US $ 132 million, which represents its fourth consecutive month of surplus so far this year, it was reported.

This rise is explained by the reactivation of economic activities, where foreign trade registered an increase of 27.9% in trade by land (trucks) and 20.4% through waterways.

The accumulated for 2021 is Gs. 4,278 million (about US $ 643 million), 19% above May 2020 figures.

Regarding imports, a growth of 42.3% was recorded, according to the DNA.

The items with the greatest positive impact on customs revenues were: fuels and other petroleum products; vehicles; IT and Telecoms; capital goods; spare auto parts; plastics and their manufactures; drinks; fertilizers; machines, appliances and electrical material and their parts, among others.

Customs revenues are expected to continue with this recovery trend in the coming months and to rise even higher after a successful vaccination campaign.

It is now expected that with all these new fresh dollars worth of exports, some cash could fall into the hands of Paraguayan health authorities. Health Minister Julio Borba admitted Tuesday in a radio interview that “we no longer have a peso split in two.” Why would he need pesos when the local currency is guaraníes (Gs.) remains one of the mysteries of languages.

What the minister meant was that the country's entire health budget has already been allocated to contracts for the following months and talks are already underway with the Treasury so that in the future or the coming months they can have resources for any new occurrence.

Of the US $ 427 million allocated by the Ministry of Finance, 40% had already been executed in 2020 and that of the remaining 60% for 2021, 17% has already been used, while the balance was already committed to the calls for bids and the purchase of vaccines.