Corruption in Paraguay

Observers maintain that corruption in Paraguay remains a major impediment to the emergence of stronger democratic institutions and sustainable economic development in Paraguay.

Duarte presidency
President Nicanor Duarte's measures to combat corruption during his 2003-2008 administration included increased penalties for tax evasion and other measures to increase tax revenue, greater oversight of government spending, and a crackdown on the trade of contraband and counterfeit goods.

He also removed members of the Supreme Court after corruption allegations surfaced against them.

Present situation
On Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, Paraguay scored 28 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Paraguay ranked 136th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11 (ranked 180). For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Americas was 76, the average score was 43 and the lowest score was 13.

This ranking was an improvement from the 2004 Index when the country was classified among the six most corrupt countries in the world and the second most corrupt in the Western Hemisphere. The opposition, however, has claimed that anti-corruption efforts have not been far-reaching enough because they have not addressed the clientelism that is pervasive in Paraguayan politics or the dominance of the Colorado Party in governmental institutions.