IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, raised 180 billion guaraníes ($28 million) — through a six-year local-currency bond in Paraguay, its eighth such issuance in the country’s capital markets. The proceeds will fund a senior loan to Banco Familiar to expand credit for microentrepreneurs and small businesses in the country.
The bond was issued via Paraguayan stock market Cadiem Casa de Bolsa, and sold to local institutional investors. In Paraguay, a country of just 7.4 million people, long-term local capital is scarce. What exists is mostly short-term. Banks that want to lend for several years often have to borrow abroad, typically in dollars.
When the guaraní weakens, those loans become more expensive — and small businesses end up absorbing the cost. “Issuing in local currency is not just a financing choice; it is a development strategy,” said IDB Invest’s Orlando Ferreira. Banco Familiar is one of Paraguay’s largest retail lenders by branch network, with a customer base concentrated among lower-income and informal-sector borrowers. The IDB Invest loan targets microentrepreneurs and small businesses, with a focus on helping borrowers increase liquidity.
Building the market
In November 2025, Paraguay passed a new capital markets law that expanded foreign exchange limits for overseas investors, allowing for direct trading between domestic and foreign holders of government securities, and unifying the rules for how debt is issued and held. Annual trading volume hit a projected all-time high of $7 billion that year.
Earlier in 2025, Paraguay sold its first international bond denominated in guaraníes, a $600 million, 10-year note on the New York Stock Exchange. The country now holds investment-grade ratings from both Moody’s and S&P Global.
On climate, Paraguay passed a carbon credits law in 2023 and finalized its regulatory framework in March 2025, establishing the country’s first formal carbon market and national registry. It has also signed a bilateral carbon trading deal with Singapore and expects the framework to draw up to $300 million in green investment, much of it in the Gran Chaco region.
