MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tax collection above expectations in Paraguay

Orué highlighted the 16 consecutive months of sustained increase

Paraguay's National Directorate of Tax Revenues (DNIT) announced Tuesday that collection last month far exceeded expectations after posting a 9.1% yoy improvement. A DNIT report mentioned raking in ₲ 3.19 trillion (around US$ 405 million), which represented US$ 33.9 million more than in the same month of 2024.

“We closed quite well. In the budget an increase of 7% was foreseen; we exceeded our expectations,” DNIT Director Óscar Orué said in a radio interview. “The base was already very high and this year the expectation is to maintain the positive statistics,” he added.

Orué also underlined that 45% of collections came from customs taxes and 55% from internal taxes, which higher incidence of indirect taxes.

The official also highlighted the 16 consecutive months of sustained increase, where there was no deficit, thanks to the use of technology, qualified human resources, reinforced control mechanisms, and the support from President Santiago Peña, among other factors.

Good dynamics last December generated the conditions for higher collection levels in January, especially in the trade and financial intermediation sectors, it was also explained.

The DNIT closed 2024 with a record collection of ₲ 38.9 trillion, which represents an increase of 20.6% with respect to 2023. Since its creation in August 2023, the institution collected ₲ 6,663,866 million more (about US$ 948 million) through the improvement of customs controls and management between the former Undersecretariat of State for Taxation and the General Directorate of Customs.

Meanwhile, Paraguay's Central Bank (BCP) confirmed that inflation in January stood at 1% and 3.8% in 2024. For 2025, the BCP's target is 3.5%.

The relatively calm Consumer Price Index (CPI) was the result of sharp adjustments either way, with a 24% variation in vegetables and an 8.5% decrease in fresh fruits, for an 11% overall increase in the fruits and vegetables subgroup. Meat went up 1.5% in January for a 12.4% interannual increase.

Core inflation, which excludes unprocessed food products and energy products such as fuels, registered an increase of 0.5% during January. The variation in the last twelve months was 3.4%.