Big advantages, bad reputation

摘要

Paraguay faces a bright future because of high commodity prices, despite a reputation for being one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In its latest corruption perceptions index, Transparency International ranks Paraguay the 138th worst country in the world out of 179 nations it surveyed, and indicates that corruption there is getting worse. The country scored 2.4 on its index last year while in 2006 it attained 2.6 (on a scale of one to 10, with 10 representing the least corrupt). However, the country's economy has been growing dramatically, mostly on the back of rising soya prices (they increased in value by 80% last year). Gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.4% last year and by 4.3% in 2006, the fastest pace of growth since the so-called Itaipu boom in the 1970s and 1980s, when the world's largest hydroelectric dam at the time was built on the Parana River between Paraguay and Brazil.