Paraguay was losing its natural semi humid forests in the country ’ s western regions at a rate of 15. 000 hectares at a randomly studied 2 month period in 2010, Paraguay ’ s parliament refused in 2009 to pass a law that would have stopped cutting of natural forests altogether.

Reforms in fiscal and monetary policy also have improved Paraguay ’ s economy.

Nevertheless, urban unemployment and underemployment have been problems throughout Paraguay ’ s history.

Paraguay ’ s economy ( GDP ) grew 5, 8 % in 2008, fastest growing sector being agriculture with 10, 5 % growth

It is Paraguay ’ s largest and most consistent source of employment, employing about 45 percent of the working population.

Paraguay ’ s eastern plains as well as the Chaco support the country ’ s dairy and ranching industry.

Behind soybeans, beef exports make up a significant part of Paraguay ’ s agriculture sector.

However, in 2004 Paraguay ’ s meat production and exports rebounded.

As a result of rising international prices and the recovery of important markets like Chile or Russia, Paraguay ’ s meat exports rose to US $ 143 million in 2004.

Paraguay ’ s forests adequately meet domestic needs for lumber and fuelwood.

However, logging for export, both legally and illegally, has thinned Paraguay ’ s once abundant forests, resulting in a ban on the export of logs since the 1970s.

The industrial sector produces about 25 percent of Paraguay ’ s gross domestic product ( GDP ) and employs about 31 percent of the labor force.

The services sector made up nearly 50 percent of Paraguay ’ s gross domestic product in 2004 and employed about 19 percent of Paraguay ’ s working population.

In 2003 Paraguay ’ s hotel occupancy rate was 38 percent.

Paraguay ’ s banking and financial services industry is still recovering from the liquidity crisis of 1995, when news of widespread corruption resulted in the closure of several significant banks.

Reform efforts spurred by the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) and World Bank helped restore some credibility to Paraguay ’ s banking industry.

Paraguay ’ s Central Bank exists to stabilize the financial sector, making sure that another run on banks, such as the one that occurred in 1995, does not recur.

Vos is used extensively as the primary form of the second person singular in Rioplatense Spanish for Argentina and Uruguay, and in Paraguayan Spanish, for Paraguay.

The Paraguay River is the primary waterway of the Pantanal wetlands of southern Brazil, northern Paraguay and parts of Bolivia.

Being one of the seven cursed children of Tau and Kerana, the Luison is one of the primary figures of legend in Guaraní-speaking cultures today, such as Paraguay.

From Tarija, primary destinations and land routes coincide with the cardinal directions: Paraguay / the Gran Chaco, to the east via Yacuiba ; Argentina, to the south via Bermejo, Yacuiba or Villazón ; Tupiza / the Salar de Uyuni, to the west via Villazón ; and the central cities of Bolivia, to the north via Potosí.

In the late 1980s, this subsector represented less than 5 percent of industrial activity, but its share of manufacturing output was expanding because of the growth of heavy industry in Paraguay, especially industry related to the energy sector.

Owing to its importance as a navigable waterway serving Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, the river has been the focus of commercial and industrial development.

** Eunectes notaeus, the yellow anaconda, a smaller species, is found in eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina.

* 1537 – Asunción, Paraguay, is founded.

Widely grown in this area, cassava is typically included in the region's dishes, as are other components of meals, such as the chipá ( a cassava and cheese bread ), which originally came from Paraguay.

* 1935 – Chaco War ends: a truce is called between Bolivia and Paraguay who had been fighting since 1932.

* In Paraguay, a municipality ( municipalidad ) is part of a departament ( departamento ).

* The flag of Paraguay is not identical on its obverse and reverse sides.

Taiwan is antipodal to Paraguay.

The ancient history of Paraguay is poorly documented, as almost no archaeological research has been done and little is known of Paraguay's pre-Columbian history.

Although there is little ethnic strife in Paraguay to impede social and economic progress, there is social conflict caused by underemployment and the enormous gap between the rich and the poor.

Paraguay is a landlocked country in South America, bordering Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia.

The Chaco is predominantly lowlands, also inclined toward the Río Paraguay, that are alternately flooded and parched.

About 80 % of the region is below in elevation ; the lowest elevation,, is found in the extreme south at the confluence of the Río Paraguay and Río Paraná.

The Eastern region is drained primarily by rivers that flow westward to the Río Paraguay, although some rivers flow eastward to the Río Paraná.

Between these two upland subregions is the Central Lowland, an area of low elevation and relief, sloping gently upward from the Río Paraguay toward the Paraná Plateau.

The Tebicuary River ( Río Tebicuary )— a major tributary of the Río Paraguay — bisects the swampy lowland, which is broken in its central portion by rounded swells of land up to three meters in height.

The main chain is long and has smaller branches that extend to the west and die out along the banks of the Río Paraguay in the Northern Upland.

Separated from the Eastern region by the Paraguay River, the Chaco region is a vast plain with elevations reaching no higher than and averaging.

The Alto Chaco ( Upper Chaco ), also called Chaco Seco ( Dry Chaco ) is the western three-quarters of the region, bordering on Bolivia, while the Bajo Chaco ( Lower Chaco ) or Chaco Húmedo ( Humid Chaco ) borders on the Paraguay River.

In general, the Río Paraná is navigable by large ships only up to Encarnación, Paraguay but smaller boats may go somewhat farther.

Nearly the entire island of Taiwan is antipodal to Paraguay, apart from the northwest coast ( including the capital, Taipei, which is antipodal with Argentina ).

Paraguay is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, the Law of the Sea, and the Ozone Layer Protection.