Asunción, Agencia IP.- On past Monday, the results of the analysis of the exportation of goods by the MSMEs in Paraguay, 2019-2021, a study presented by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC), where it is detailed for the first time statistical data of this exporter sector.
The Minister of the MIC, Javier Giménez, said regarding the study presented that there is a lot to do, and this revision outlines the path to follow to increase the presence of national enterprises at a global level.
He highlighted that among the data the study contains, one proves that the MSMEs that export generate three times more employment than those that do not, depending on each sector.
“If with the export rate of just under 1% that these data detailed, we see that exploiting MSMEs employ three times more than the others. We have development potential for what the Government wants and that our people need, which is the generation of employment”, claimed Minister Giménez.
“Let’s see it with a vision of where we are, but mainly, where we want to get to; let’s notice the potential that this sector has and the strength of those relationships, and then generate public policies for access to markets, generation of added value, financing, formalization, of the logistics plan. Public policies that can finally do what we all want, which is to take us from where we are to where we want to go,” he reaffirmed.
This investigation work was an impulse by the General Direction of Information and Internationalization of MSMEs, with the collaboration of the Viceministery of the Investment and Export Network (Rediex, by its acronym in Spanish).
Este trabajo fue impulsado por la Dirección General de Información e Internacionalización de Mipymes, del Viceministerio de Mipymes en conjunto con el Viceministerio de la Red de Inversiones y Exportaciones (Rediex).
Products and employment
Among the presented data, the study indicates that at the end of the fiscal year 2021, the number of exports of goods by MSMEs reached USD 65,146,131, which represents a participation of 0.70% in the total amount exported that same year, and that the average for the period 2019-2021, was 0.73%. During 2021, the microenterprises exported 93 different products, such as transport or plastic packaging, charcoal, wool, hair and textiles for wigs; small ones exported a total of 158 products, such as textile carpets, blankets and charcoal; and the medium enterprises exported 127 products like sesame, fresh or dried bananas and charcoal, informed the MIC.
About employment, it is highlighted that at the closure of the fiscal year of 2021, formal work of the exporting MSMEs registered in the Institute of Social Prevision (IPS, by its acronym in Spanish) was of 1.999 workers (2,4% of the total of employments generated by exporting enterprises). The average of people formally employed by microenterprises is 2,62%, small ones 5,98%, and medium ones 9,92%. In the whole MSMEs, there is a larger quantity of average employment generated by the ones that export, in relationship with the general average of the country’s enterprises. The job generated is mainly female, in 70% of the total.
Visualize an opportunity
Gustavo Giménez, Vice-minister of MSMEs, claimed that by representing 98% of the business units formalized in the country, the MSMEs had a grand opening of generating opportunity through international markets. “We hope that this study will be helpful to visualize this opportunity, and at the same time, working together to provide the market we are aiming for the MSMEs, and mainly, to position our country as an exporter of this segment”, he holds.
Dynamite of the economy
The Vice Minister of Rediex, Rodrigo Maluff, affirmed that they are working on building a future in this sector, which is to dynamite the economy, along with the attraction for new investments and the internationalization of products that represent the wheel that spins the workforce. “When it is accessed to a new market, it is continued by consolidation, of deepening strings, that is another challenge, and lastly, the growth and maintain for exportations, for MSMEs to get out in the world and carry the country brand”, he stated.
This study was done with the support of the European Union (EU) as a part of the Programme to Support the Improvement of Competivity of the MSMEs and the business climate in Paraguay “Pypime Compite”. It is the first study done in Paraguay that presents data in detail about the participation of the MSMEs in the formal exportation of products, with reliable and precise statistical data.