Investing in Paraguay

Paraguayan investments include government bonds issued through the Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas, securities associated with the Banco Central del Paraguay and Agencia Financiera de Desarrollo, corporate bonds, pagarés, debentures, securitized instruments, bank certificates of deposit, mutual funds, investment funds, shares, real estate, business interests and agricultural or commodity exposure. Mutual funds issue redeemable units, while investment funds issue units that are not ordinarily redeemable. Fund categories can include fixed income, variable income, mixed funds and funds of funds. The formal securities market is supervised by the Banco Central del Paraguay through the Superintendencia de Valores, known as the SIV. The Bolsa de Valores y Productos de Asunción, or BVA, provides the exchange infrastructure, and the Caja de Valores del Paraguay, or CAVAPY, records, dematerializes, safeguards, transfers and settles registered securities. Law 7572/2025 established the current framework for supervision, investor protection and fair, transparent and efficient markets. Additional rules and market innovations were still developing in 2026, so the applicable requirements can depend on the instrument and intermediary. Market activity in May 2026 was concentrated in fixed income. The BVA reported cumulative volume of approximately PYG 19.9 trillion, equivalent to about USD 3.246 billion. Reporto transactions represented 66.7% of volume, fixed-income securities 32.5%, shares 0.7% and derivatives 0.1%. The secondary market represented 85.0%. A reporto is a short-term securities transaction and should not be treated as the long-term return of an investment portfolio. A person seeking local public securities generally works through a registered Casa de Bolsa. The BCP register should be checked before selecting an intermediary. The intermediary normally establishes a client agreement, performs customer and anti-money-laundering checks, and records the investor's age, financial and tax situation, experience, objective, time horizon, liquidity needs, financial knowledge and risk tolerance. Capital should move through approved local or foreign financial accounts or from the client's own account; cash payments and third-party account practices do not provide the same control. Foreign securities require registered intermediaries or custodians. Non-residents can acquire Paraguayan government bonds through a global or local custodian, subject to the applicable access process. An order should state the price, currency, fees, risk rating, ISIN, purchase or sale direction, validity and total amount before execution. For fixed-income securities, the clean price, dirty price and accrued interest should be distinguished. Local exchange orders may execute on the same or following trading day, depending on the market and instrument. Monthly reports should show opening and closing balances, movements and maturities. BVA systems are intended for securities registered with the SIV and CAVAPY. Selection requires a review of the issuer and issuance in the public register, prospectus, financial statements, use of proceeds, maturity, coupon and payment schedule, senior or subordinated ranking, collateral, call or put rights, rating, currency, duration, secondary-market spread, minimum investment, custody arrangements and tax treatment. A rating is not a purchase recommendation or a payment guarantee. SIV registration also does not guarantee the issuer's solvency or repayment. Private placements are available only through a registered Casa de Bolsa, can involve no more than 35 qualified investors, and use an issuer that is not registered with the SIV. They have limits of 5,000 minimum wages per issuer, or 15,000 for a real-estate project, require a rating, impose a six-year restriction after the first placement, are not listed on the exchange and may have limited liquidity. Secondary trading is limited to qualified investors. A portfolio can use a maturity ladder for fixed-income securities, a PYG and USD mix aligned with future expenses, and diversification across issuers, sectors, asset classes and maturities. Funds can provide collective diversification. Buy-and-hold depends on the issuer's ability to pay and on the possibility of selling when needed. Active trading requires discipline regarding spreads, fees and taxes. Foreign-exchange forwards and commodity forwards are primarily hedging instruments but can also be used speculatively; they do not provide a guaranteed return. The main risks include issuer default and recovery, interest-rate and duration changes, PYG-USD exchange-rate movements, inflation, liquidity and spread changes, concentration in one issuer or the financial sector, market and settlement failures, custody and counterparty exposure, cyber and anti-money-laundering controls, regulatory transition, valuation and data errors, property-title and land-registration problems, unpaid rent and agricultural or commodity-price changes. Direct real-estate investing does not use SIV custody or stock-exchange liquidity. A purchase or sale generally involves a escritura, the Registro Unificado Nacional and Dirección General de los Registros Públicos, a certificate of ownership status, a Servicio Nacional de Catastro certificate, georeferencing, and checks for liens, municipal matters, taxes and rental conditions. Digital assets and tokenization have a developing legal and regulatory setting, but individual access should not be assumed. Under SIV Circular SV.SG.006/2025, cryptocurrencies are not registered or authorized securities, are not legal tender, have no state guarantee and carry substantial loss, fraud, hacking and liquidity risks. They should be treated as an unregulated speculative alternative rather than as a regulated Paraguayan investment product. Transaction and holding costs depend on the contract and prospectus. The Casa de Bolsa correction charge can reach 0.80% on each transaction side under the applicable rules. The BVA 2026 tariff lists 0.0160% for buying or selling securities and 0.0080% for Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas securities. Reporto tariffs range from 0.1200% for 1 to 6 days to 0.0400% for 90 to 365 days. Custody, settlement, transfer, foreign-exchange, advisory and fund-management charges can apply separately, and the end-customer price should be checked in the contract. Tax treatment follows the Paraguayan tax framework, including Law 6380/2019. Capital income is generally taxed at 8%, while the tax on dividends is 8% for residents and 15% for non-residents. Income from relevant instruments can be treated as realized when paid, assigned, sold, offset or matured. Interest, bonds, reporto transactions, funds, shares and real estate can require different classifications. Keep payment records, transaction costs and acquisition documents, and obtain case-specific advice when the investment structure, residence or income type creates uncertainty.