Weekly Report - 13 February 2014 (WR-14-06)

PARAGUAY | Encouraging economic news. The ratings agency, Moody’s, upgraded Paraguay’s sovereign bond ratings last week from Ba3 to Ba2 with a positive outlook citing an improvement in the public finances, increased political stability and the approval of significant economic reforms in the past few months. According to Moody’s, since President Horacio Cartes took office in August last year, Paraguay’s debt has fallen from an average of 18% of GDP between 2003 and 2012 to 12.7% in 2013. Moody’s said that this was largely the result of the new government’s smooth transition into power and the approval of a number of economic measures by the new congress such as the law of fiscal responsibility and a new public-private partnership law.