Regional enterprise development, Republic of Paraguay

The prime objective of the project was to increase investments outside of Asuncion and develop export-oriented industries. Some of the immediate results of this project include the following: (1) Twelve feasibility studies were completed during this year. Entrepreneurs have been identified for all of them and, at present, some of the studies have been implemented and the plants are in operation. All of the industries studied have great export potential for their end products. (2) Twenty-one new industries have been established with assistance from this program. These new Paraguayan industries represent a total investment of about $2.5 million, employing some 900 persons with an annual payroll of over $800,000. (3) Nineteen prefeasibility studies were prepared by the staff of the Oficina de Desarrollo Regional of the Ministerio de Industria y Comercio with the assistance of one of the consultants by the program. These studies were prepared as part of the new requirements for tax exemption under Public Law 216 (New Industry Law). The following sections of this report describe in detail the background, objectives, and activities of the program, outline the results achieved and the conclusions reached by the project staff, and indicate some recommendations for future activities by participating organizations.