MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan exports in February show year-on-year growth

There was still a trade deficit, the BCP reported

Exports of Paraguayan goods in the month of February of 2022 have surpassed those of the same month of the previous year, according to a Central Bank (BCP) report which also showed revenues had reached US$ 1,602.9 million.

The increases were mainly based on higher transactions with other countries in items such as meat, grains, oils, and soybean meal.

However, imports in February reached US$ 2,234.4 billion, for a trade balance deficit of US$ 469.3 million, 31.6% higher than in the same period of the previous year.

Paraguayan media also reported Friday that the Inter-American Bank had granted the country a loan to further develop the High Voltage Transmission System-Phase II of the Itaipú hydroelectric plant, which is also deemed to be the world's largest producer of clean energy.

These financial resources will enable the construction of a second 500 kilovolt (kV) line on the right bank of the Paraná River, where the binational (with Brazil) power plant is located.

The approved loan will also cover the construction of a 220 kV line to connect the Guarambaré and Valenzuela substations, a work in its initial stage that will provide greater reliability to the system.

The project will directly benefit the distribution and consumption of electricity for the population, through a better service based on a solid and reliable system, it was reported.

Itaipu (Guarani for “sounding stone”) was the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world until 2011 when it was surpassed by China's Three Gorges, and remains the largest in the Southern and Western hemispheres.