Marco Riquelme, Vice President of International Relations of the Paraguayan Industrial Union (UIP), considered that Paraguay has several inhibitors when it comes to industrializing. First of all, there is the size of our market, since it is small. Added to this is the fact that our market is clogged by smuggling, since it is estimated that 30% of mass consumption and household products purchased in our country are of informal origin and are smuggled.
Although there is a growth in consumer preference for Paraguayan products, with Mercosur there is a negative trade balance of 3,000 million dollars a year. “Why don’t multinationals invest in Paraguay? That is the question we have to ask ourselves, and that is where we have to start from to start making public policies, so that these people really feel attracted to come and invest here”, he assured.
Riquelme lamented that the banks are not prepared to finance industries in the long term and criticized the fact that the National Development Bank, which should promote job creation and the country’s industrialization, is currently a consumer bank.
“We want to invest, to grow, to take risks, but only companies that have other sources of income can invest, that entrepreneur or that person who wants to invest for an industry or who provides something for the industrial sector cannot do so because there are no (financial) products for you to develop your industry”, he claimed, during his participation in the debate on “The Industrialization of Paraguay. Threats and opportunities to speed up the process” in the television program Plaza Pública de DENDE.
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Also present at the debate was Carina Daher, president of the Chamber of Maquiladora Companies of Paraguay, moderated by Yan Speranza. The panelists agreed on the need to increase promotion, improve technological services in the public sector and stressed the need for long-term financing for the industrial sector.
Regarding financing, the lack of long-term credit prevents investments to acquire machinery and slows down competition with industries from other countries. Meanwhile, the promotion must be remotely controlled and the import substitution policy should be given through incentives.
For Carina Daher, the lack of investment in technology by the State to process the documentation of the private sector and shortening response times is another factor that prevents further growth in the industrial sector.
Currently, The Maquila sector employs 22,000 people directly and almost 60,000 indirectly, through 254 companies. This year the sector’s exports are expected to exceed 1,000 million dollars.
One of the competitive advantages in the Maquila sector is the workforce and the flexibility when training the Paraguayan worker, as well as the effectiveness in production. “There is no ceiling for the Maquila Regime to grow. We believe that we are one of the anchors, one of the banners for industrialization because we offer this training”, he added.
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Finally, Yan Speranza said that the industrial sector is key to development, fundamentally for countries like ours, and that although Paraguay is beginning to grow, it is still slow. Regarding the Maquila, he pointed out that there is a successful model, but it has difficulties related to public management and the lack of technology that facilitates processes. “That is the challenge that arises from certain public policies and the conditions are in place for this sector, the industrial sector, to have explosive growth and we no longer only depend on the export of primary products,” he stressed.
