The deficit of the Caja Fiscal, Paraguay's public sector pension fund, reached 1.31 trillion guaranis (approximately US$216 million) in the first half of 2026. Data released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) show that expenditures on retirement and pension payments totaled 3.15 trillion guaranis, while revenue from contributions amounted to only 1.83 trillion guaranis.
The negative difference of 42% between inflows and outflows is financed monthly with funds from the National Treasury, meaning with tax revenue. On a daily basis, the generated deficit is approximately US$1.2 million. Compared to the same period in 2025, the negative balance in local currency grew by 7%, but due to the devaluation of the guarani against the dollar, the value in dollars increased by 41%.
The system is administered by the MEF's General Directorate of Pensions and Retirement, which has 242,141 active contributing employees, 73,080 retirees, and 12,481 registered pensioners. The sectors that contributed most to the deficit were the military, with a 71% difference between contributions and benefits paid, followed by the police (59%) and teachers (46%). The teaching sector was responsible for nearly half of the semester's deficit.
To address the problem, President Santiago Peña signed Law 7633, a reform of the system, in March. However, the approved legislation is considered a stopgap solution, as the Executive's original bill was modified in Congress under pressure from teachers' groups. The approved reform is expected to reduce the deficit by about 40% over time, below the 60% initially planned by the government.