The Government has already presented to Congress a project to request a loan of USD 200 million from CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the idea is to request another in the second half of June, said Iván Haas.
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The Vice Minister of Economy said that “the idea” with these credits is to settle the debt of the Ministry of Public Works with private contractors in the road and construction sector, which has already risen to some USD 380 million.
The unions of the builders and road workers complained about it the previous week and this week.
Haas explained that the debt was generated after the Government redirected half of a USD 300 million fund for Public Works to the Ministry of Public Health, when the country was going through the worst moment of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The head of the Paraguayan Road Chamber (Cavialpa), Paul Sarubbi, indicated last Saturday that, however, the works continue with loans from banks, but the problem is that now the rates have doubled.
Related note: Add and follow MOPC debt with construction companies: USD 380 million
He affirmed that as a result 30,000 jobs have already been lost, since the MOPC is bidding less and the companies that are finishing their work no longer have other projects to continue employing people, so that frees up people.
He also assured that other companies that continue to work slowed down “because they are not charging.”
The president of the Paraguayan Chamber of Construction (Capaco), Daniel Díaz de Vivar, also spoke on the matter and claimed that the State never took so long to pay the companies.
He warned, for his part, that when the construction sector is affected there is a whole chain of employment that will be hit by this situation. The unions are very concerned because the debt is approaching USD 400 million.
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