Weekly Report - 09 January 2014 (WR-14-01)

PARAGUAY | Underfunded 2014 budget. President Horacio Cartes signed into law the country’s 2014 budget for G$59trn (US$12.89bn) on 6 January. Despite the fact that since assuming office in August last year Cartes persistently urged congress to refrain from introducing too many changes to the balanced budget proposal submitted by the executive, expenditures in the approved version of the budget exceed revenues by G$3.8trn (US$842.3m), or 2.7% of GDP. Congress increased the projected expenditures by some G$640bn (US$139m).