An audit by the Comptroller General’s Office presented to Congress on August 31 found payments exceeding G. 50 billion to more than 11,000 deceased retirees at the IPS, alongside a G. 624 billion discrepancy in inventory, while public doctors continue mobilizing for better wages and working conditions.
Instituto de Previsión Social
The Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS) is Paraguay's social security institution and also runs a large public health network. It often appears in stories about pensions, contributions, hospitals, and medicine supply.
Ueno Bank’s solvency ratio could fall from 12.4% to about 6.12% at the end of 2025 if G. 876.7 billion invested in UPay and Wepa were deducted, below the legal minimum of 8% for Tier 1 capital.
Paraguay's Senate approved National Evangelical Church Day for the last Sunday of October, without creating a public holiday or requiring the date to be added to the school calendar. IELPA and IERP challenge the name and historical rationale; the bill will still be reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies.
A doctors’ strike in Paraguay enters its fifth day with 39 pediatric surgeons threatening to resign from Monday, while the government proposes a phased 76% increase over 14 months and lawmakers disagree over funding sources.
Paraguay’s attorney general and the Association of Prosecutors asked for preventive protection for Verónica Valdez and Jorge Arce after an exchange with Arnaldo Giuzzio during his trial. Giuzzio denies that he threatened them, describing the exchange as a forceful complaint about the handling of allegations involving former president Horacio Cartes.
Paraguay’s Senate is investigating whether IPS requires beneficiaries, retirees and pensioners to open accounts at Ueno Bank to receive loans, following a complaint of a possible monopoly and the concentration of ₲5.1 trillion in state funds at the institution.
Ueno Bank expanded its public deposits in Paraguay to US$862 million in July, capturing US$52 million in one month and sparking debate about limits for state funds in financial institutions, while denying irregularities and rebutting criticism about its investments and intangible assets.
Former IPS president Vicente Bataglia received house arrest for irregular entry into the country, while another former president Jorge Brítez faces a second criminal case for elevator bidding and his lawyer alleges political persecution, and a third, Andrés Gubetich, returned to EBY with high salary and is investigated for fraud, amid a billion-dollar loss case at the institute.
Asunción Mayor Luis Bello replaced a director convicted of corruption in less than a day after a union ultimatum threatening to halt garbage collection and political pressure.
Paraguay's IPS launched a nationwide online tool that allows beneficiaries to check real-time medicine availability at institution pharmacies.
Paraguay's Social Security Institute faces a multifaceted crisis with a mass exodus of doctors, a change in its board, an asset crisis, and a bill to declare a state of emergency, while the government highlights its construction of new hospitals.
Paraguay's Social Security Institute (IPS) is spending more to resume construction of surgical centers at the Central Hospital in Asunción after fraud, million-dollar contract amendments, and three-year delays in the contract with Neighpart S.A., while former managers are investigated for losses to the public treasury.
The Paraguayan government is negotiating the assignment of $400 million to pay part of its roughly $1 billion debt to pharmaceutical suppliers, with $320 million already available for negotiation.
Workers from various sectors protest in Asunción against the deterioration of public services, labor precarity, and the high cost of living, blaming the government of Santiago Peña, which completes three years, while an analyst points to the strengthening of tax collection as a positive achievement.
While Paraguay's Social Security Institute (IPS) approves a mandatory digital census for retirees, the institution faces a crisis with stalled modular operating room construction, which has consumed multimillion-dollar payments and generated lawsuits, and with the allegation that 569 nurses receive less than the minimum wage.
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña denied payment to foreign influencers in the country, highlighted the attraction of digital nomads and investments in infrastructure and security, but documents reveal the government allocated $1.5 million for campaigns with influencers until 2027, in addition to defending the Social Security Institute (IPS) and avoiding comment on Horacio Cartes' Senate candidacy.
The Paraguayan government projects a fiscal deficit of 3.9% of GDP and new debt of $600 million for 2027, a plan criticized by experts and the president of Congress as fiscally irresponsible and unsustainable without spending cuts and reforms.
Public pressure for judicial effectiveness against corruption at IPS grows with the recent indictment of nine people, while experts and retirees warn about procedural delays and demand recovery of misappropriated funds.
IPS began its restocking plan with the arrival of 124 medicines, which will reduce the shortage rate from 28% to 19% in the next 15 days and is expected to cover demand for two months.
Paraguay's Public Prosecutor's Office has charged nine people, including two former presidents of the IPS, for an alleged embezzlement of 61 billion guaranis related to a never-completed modular operating room project, amid a crisis at the institution where the Comptroller General's Office points to much larger losses and beneficiaries demand broad investigations.
Paraguay's Prosecutor's Office charged nine former IPS employees, including former presidents, for embezzlement of G. 61 billion in a contract for modular operating rooms never installed.
Police inaugurate identification agency at Asunción Port to decentralize services, while the president of the IPS warns of an imminent healthcare crisis with the application of a law that reduces doctors' working hours and will affect around 2,000 professionals starting in September.
Paraguay's Public Ministry has requested the preventive detention of two former presidents of the Social Security Institute (IPS) and seven other former officials for an alleged diversion of 61 billion guaranis in unfinished works. In separate cases, former mayor Miguel Prieto will stand trial for a simulated purchase during the pandemic, and three people are accused of fraud against Mennonite settlers.
Paraguay's Social Security Institute seeks to recover $711 million from private companies and proposes a trust as a solution, while facing budget pressure in healthcare, with most medication funds consumed by oncology drugs.