Weekly Report - 13 December 2018 (WR-18-49)

PARAGUAY | Downwards growth revision. Paraguay’s central bank (BCP) announced on 6 December that it was revising down its 2018 year-end GDP growth forecast from 4.2% to 4%. In a statement, the BCP explained that its decision answered to the fact that there has been a slowdown in commercial activity in recent months as a result of lower-than-expected demand for Paraguayan exports, particularly in the agricultural sector. The BCP attributed this fall in demand for exports to the economic slowdown in the region driven by the low or negative growth in Brazil and Argentina.