MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan President admits middle class needs help too

“The poor and the rich were the ones who registered the highest growth rates, but not the middle class,” Peña noted

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña Friday emphasized his administration’s commitment to supporting the middle class, a group he believes has been overlooked by past policies favoring either macroeconomic stability for businesses or targeted aid for the poor.

 “The public policy offer was never focused on that sector, and that is where we are putting our attention”, said Peña during the inauguration of social housing in the city of Capiatá.

Peña noted that while poverty reduction efforts have helped vulnerable sectors, the middle class struggles with rising costs, such as high electricity bills from ANDE. “For many families, the ANDE bill is too big an item in their expenses. We have to lower the price of energy, we are working to make that a reality,” Peña reckoned.

He pledged to lower energy prices and align economic growth with tangible benefits for working families, citing the example of a supermarket worker who finds solace only in the national football team amid financial hardship. The middle class “is having a hard time making ends meet,” he also pointed out.

In the last 25 years, Paraguay's public supply has focused on two areas: he macroeconomy that favors conditions for business investment and specific public policies oriented to the most humble citizens. “The poor and the rich were the ones who registered the highest growth rates, but not the middle class,” Peña also noted.

“I focused in campaign on this, and I will work on it in the coming years,” he stressed.

BCP

Meanwhile, Paraguay's Central Bank (BCP) released a report Friday noting that footstuffs in the Argentine city of Clorinda in the province of Formosa was 9.3% more expensive on average than in Asunción, reversing a historical trend of cheaper across-the-border prices.

The March 2025 inflation report highlighted significant price gaps in cleaning products, wines, beers, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and fuels. Only condiments and seasonings remain cheaper in Clorinda, the BCP admitted in its study showing that the country's inflation in March reached 1.2%, the year’s highest, driven by rising food prices and imported durable goods, with cumulative inflation at 2.6% and year-on-year at 4.4%.