The Central Bank of Paraguay (Spanish: Banco Central del Paraguay) is Paraguay's highest monetary authority in, and the country's governing body in, finances and economics. Its headquarters are in Asunción. The institution was created by Law 18/52 of March 25, 1952. In 1995, the legal frame of the Central Bank was replaced by Law 489/95.
The bank manages the printing and minting of the Paraguayan
currency, the guaraní.
The Bank is active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. It is also one of the original 17 regulatory institutions to make specific national commitments to financial inclusion under the Maya Declaration during the 2011 Global Policy Forum held in Mexico.
In 1998, the Bank ordered the liquidation of one of the country's banks due to a severe lack of liquidity. The government sent emergency legislation to Congress to
try to guarantee bank deposits and prevent a run on savings.
In 2005, former Paraguayan president, Luis Gonzales Macchi and four bank officials were jailed following their involvement in the illegal transfer of $16m of funds through the bank to the United States.
Monetary Policy
The Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP), by law, is the economic authority in the country responsible for designing monetary policy. According to Law No. 489 "Charter" are fundamental objectives of the Central Bank of Paraguay preserve and safeguard the stability of the value of the currency and promote efficiency and stability of the financial system.
To meet the objectives set, the BCP implements monetary policy on two fronts: first, by controlling the rate of interest or the cost of money in a short-term perspective and on the other, by controlling the money supply or availability with medium-term vision. These strategies are purposes influence the performance of a set of intermediate variables, ultimately influencing the trajectory of inflation, which in turn will provide a framework for achieving stable growth of the economy in the long term.
Traditionally, the BCP monetary policy focused on the control of monetary aggregates, especially the more fluid called M0 (currency in circulation), whose growth trajectory is established annually in the monetary program, approved by the Board of BCP. Thus, the implementation of monetary policy could be evaluated by observing the results in terms of inflationary history.
However, the multiple shocks that have affected inflation also generated instability in money demand, and, this being a fundamental prerequisite for the optimization of monetary policy with aggregate control, it has played a negative role for results were optimal and in fact has resulted in higher inflation volatility. Moreover, the early development of the money market and poorly developed secondary market for government securities, difficult to implement another scheme BCP monetary policy, leaving the aggregate and taking control of the interest rate as an intermediate target.
In the modern monetary approach, called the monetary policy regime of inflation targeting has reduced the level and volatility of inflation in those countries whose
central banks adopted it. Currently, the BCP is in the process of convergence in the medium term to an inflation targeting scheme. However, there are still significant obstacles to the adoption of this scheme.
While the law 489/95 states that the Central Bank has autarky and administrative and patrimonial autonomy regulations; it participates with other technical agencies of the state in the formulation of monetary policy, credit and exchange.
Additional operational independence, other legal and institutional requirements are needed to deepen the implementation of the new approach.
On the other hand, the BCP has made great strides to facilitate the adoption of the new approach and after a diagnosis of major weaknesses and strengths of the BCP in implementation of monetary policy, have carried out a series of modifications.
First, it proposed an agenda in the development of models that capture the variables that play an active role in the process of monetary policy transmission. These models are tools that help you have better items for decisions on the matter.
Second, Central Bank of Paraguay have regularized analysis reports and regular committee meetings open market operations. It has also improved public communication, strengthened technical capacities of the areas involved, the regulatory provisions for financial and monetary market and is undertaking legal and technological modernization of the payments system. All these efforts are aimed at the optimization of the monetary policy of the BCP.
Overcoming many obstacles, coupled with the current developments would allow the central bank to conduct monetary policy more independent, credible and able to prioritize the inflation target over any other.
Vision:
Being an independent institution to develop an efficient and credible, based on the excellence of their values and talents, recognized nationally and internationally.
Mission:
Preserve and safeguard the stability of the value of the currency, promote efficiency and stability of the financial system.
Values:
- Excellence
- Integrity
- Professionalism
- Commitment
- Transparency
Strategic objectives:
- Maintain annual inflation in single digits;
- Keep preventive regulation and supervision, continuous and disciplined financial system;
- Provide and promote a modern payment system, safe and efficient;
- To contribute to the understanding of economic phenomena and financial and regulatory issues;
- To promote an organization and institutional culture of excellence with social responsibility;
- Develop a comprehensive risk management.
Payment Systems
Payment systems and securities settlement systems are a fundamental part of the financial infrastructure of a country, and that channel payments enabling the execution of commercial and financial transactions.
So the importance of payment systems is that they make it possible to channel all money flows in the economy between the different participants. This implies the need for progress in the development of the payments infrastructure to enable operators to carry out their activities in the various links in the production chain, and be sure that they have adequate systems for the implementation of payments as consideration for the production of goods and services, or the savings and investment.
In this context, as regulator and supervisor of the financial system, the BCP has begun a process of modernization of the payment system, based on a technology upgrade and the establishment of a communications network between the BCP and financial institutions, in an environment High security and reliability.
Around this financial communication network structure the payments system in two stages: High value (RTGS) and the securities depository (CSD), with securities issued by the BCP and the national government. And in the second stage of low value (Clearinghouse).
Implementing a System Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) allow the elimination of vulnerability created by the size and duration of exposure to credit risk and liquidity in financial clearance processes.
With both essential components, will achieve the development of a modern payment system, characterized by electronic settlement, dematerialized and real time obligations between financial institutions, with settlement in the current accounts that they have opened in the Bank Central of Paraguay.
The main argument for upgrading settlement systems and clearing inter-bank obligations rests on the need to harmonize the financial architecture of our economy with those of countries with more developed capital markets.
Second, related to the above argument, there is a need to control the risks associated with the process of clearing and settlement of payments in the economy, because it is recognized that these are often important sources of systemic risk that may call into question the normal functioning of the financial system.
Third, there is broad consensus at the level of international organizations (BIS, IMF, IDB, World Bank, CEMLA) on best practices regarding risk management of payment systems, which generates a current comparison between countries can have an impact on the evaluation of country risk and the degree of financial integration.
Useful links
- Currency of Paraguay:
- Paraguayan guarani
- List of Central Banks:
- Central Banks
- Official website of Central Bank of Paraguay:
- www.bcp.gov.py
- Ministry of Finance of Paraguay:
- www.hacienda.gov.py