Countries › Paraguay › Guide › 3. Investing › Public private partnerships in Paraguay: the 2025 PPP law (Ley 7452), sectors, fiscal caps, tenders and private initiatives

Public private partnerships in Paraguay: the 2025 PPP law (Ley 7452), sectors, fiscal caps, tenders and private initiatives

Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Changing

Since 28 January 2025 Paraguayan PPPs run under Ley 7452/2025, which repealed the 2013 PPP law (Ley 5102), raised the maximum term to 40 years and lists 17 authorised sectors from roads and airports to energy, telecom and cement. Projects must exceed 12,500 monthly minimum wages of initial investment (about PYG 38,050 million or US$6.5 million today), pass binding Ministry of Economy and Finance reviews, and fit within caps of 4 percent of GDP for accumulated commitments and 0.8 percent of GDP a year. Winners must form a local S.A.; lenders get step in rights; private proponents get cost reimbursement plus a 3 to 10 percent bonus or a matching right.

USD figures use PYG 5,868.31 per US dollar, the Banco Central del Paraguay reference quotation for 28 October 2026, retrieved on the verification date. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Maximum PPP contract term including extensions	40 yearsLey 7452/2025 art. 2, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Minimum initial investment for a PPP	12500 monthly minimum wagesLey 7452/2025 art. 3, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Minimum initial investment for a PPP at the July 2026 minimum wage	38050000000 PYGLey 7452/2025 art. 3; Decreto 6225/2026 and Res. MTESS 670/2026, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Cap on accumulated firm and contingent PPP payments, present value	4 % of prior year GDPLey 7452/2025 art. 12, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Cap on PPP commitments assumed each year	0.8 % of prior year GDPLey 7452/2025 art. 12, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Minimum time between call and bid receipt	120 daysLey 7452/2025 art. 20, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Cap on unilateral amendments by the State	15 % of updated final investment budgetLey 7452/2025 art. 30, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Cap on agreed amendments	30 % of updated final investment budgetLey 7452/2025 art. 31, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Bonus for the private initiative proponent	3 to 10 % of bid scoreLey 7452/2025 art. 49, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Maximum State share in private initiative projects	25 % of present value of total costLey 7452/2025 art. 47, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Contracting vehicle	Special purpose S.A. formed in Paraguay, winner as majority shareholder textLey 7452/2025 art. 25, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Monthly minimum wage used for the PPP floor	3044000 PYGDecreto 6225/2026 art. 2; Res. MTESS 670/2026 art. 1, as of 2026-07-01 · in force
BCP reference rate	5868.31 PYG per USDBCP reference quotation, as of 2026-10-28 · in force

The rule

1. Scope and minimum size. A PPP contract is a long term contract in which State bodies or State owned companies work with private legal entities on an investment project, sharing commitments, risks and benefits, with the private partner paid mainly on performance. The private party must at least finance all or part of the initial investment and operate and maintain the infrastructure and its services, plus either design and build, or build or rehabilitate it (or, for State companies, manage their own services). Only projects whose initial investment, estimated at prefeasibility, exceeds in present value 12,500 monthly minimum wages for unspecified activities in the capital may use the regime; the National Economic Team can lower the floor case by case. Governorates and municipalities are outside the definition of State bodies for this law.
Example: Floor: 12,500 x PYG 3,044,000 (monthly minimum wage from 1 July 2026) = PYG 38,050,000,000 of initial investment in present value. / About US$6,484,000 at PYG 5,868.31 per dollar.Ley Nº 7452/2025 De modernización del régimen de promoción de la inversión en infraestructura pública y ampliación y mejoramiento de los bienes y servicios a cargo del Estado, Art. 2 and 3, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28 · changed: Ley 7452/2025, promulgated and published on 27 January 2025 and in force the next day, repealed Ley 5102/2013 (art. 55) and applies to new procedures and, where compatible with agreed terms, to procedures under way and existing contracts (art. 53). The maximum term is now 40 years including extensions.

2. Authorised sectors. The law authorises contracting administrations to structure, tender and sign PPPs for: waterways, dredging, signalling and river navigability; airports; national roads and highways; railways; national and international bridges; drinking water, sanitation and effluent treatment; electricity generation, transmission, distribution and sale; road infrastructure of Asunción and its metropolitan area; social infrastructure (hospitals, health centres, schools); prisons; urban improvement; aqueducts and oil, gas and other pipelines; goods and services of State bodies and companies; cement production and sale; hydrocarbon production, refining and sale of fuels and lubricants; telecom services; and renewable and non conventional non hydro renewable generation. The Executive defines each specific project. The Ministry of Public Works (MOPC) is the competent body for transport and communication routes, including dredging and airports, and other entities may delegate their powers to it.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 7 and 51, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. Approval chain and fiscal caps. The decision to use a PPP needs Executive approval after the evaluations required by this law and by Ley 6490/2020 on public investment. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), through its Public Investment Directorate (DGIP), leads the system and issues binding opinions on risk allocation, fiscal impact and feasibility, on tender documents before approval, on contracts and amendments before signing, on compensation claims and on early termination; the Attorney General (PGR) gives a prior opinion on contracts, claims and terminations. During execution, unilateral or agreed amendments, compensation, sanctions, suspensions and early terminations need prior MEF approval. The accumulated present value of firm and quantifiable contingent payments, net of project assets or revenues, may not exceed 4 percent of the previous year's GDP, and commitments assumed each year may not exceed 0.8 percent of GDP; the National Economic Team can raise the limits exceptionally up to what MEF considers prudent. MEF must hire at least two international audits per project, two years into operation and at the end of the contract.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 7, 8, 9, 12 and 15, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. Tender procedure. Private partners are chosen by public tender or another competitive procedure set by regulation, which may include prequalification (on legal, financial, technical and experience criteria only) and a competitive dialogue on the draft tender documents and contract. PPP tenders are excluded from the general public procurement rules. The call must give at least 120 days before bids are received and be published at least once in a national newspaper and on the public procurement portal (SICP). Award follows a scoring system set in the tender documents, using factors such as user tariffs, payments by the State, contract term, State contributions, payments offered to the State, guaranteed revenues and technical score. Bidders may file a reconsideration appeal within 5 business days of notice, backed by the guarantee set in the tender documents, which the authority must decide within 15 business days; the guarantee is executed if the appeal fails.
Cost to do it: Bid bond and performance bond sized by each tender (deposits, bank guarantees, sureties, standby letters of credit or insurance policies issued by entities authorised by the Central Bank or the Superintendency of Insurance); an appeal also requires the guarantee set in the tender documents.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

5. Who can bid and the project company. Paraguayan and foreign legal entities meeting the law, regulation and tender requirements may bid; public companies and companies with State shareholding may not be private partners. Barred are officials of the State, binational entities, governorates and municipalities and their relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity in the contracting body, advisers who worked on the project where this gives them an edge, anyone convicted of breaching a State contract in the previous five years, firms sanctioned by multilateral bodies, bankrupt firms and tax debtors, including through consortia, subcontracts or successor entities. The winner must form in Paraguay a sociedad anónima of exclusive purpose, in which it is the majority shareholder in the percentage set by regulation, lasting at least the contract term plus two years and the warranty period.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 16, 17, 18, 22 and 25, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

6. Contract economics and changes. Payment may combine user charges, public contributions during construction or operation and other revenues, and must be linked to availability and service levels with penalties or deductions. Public contributions can include payments, financing or minimum revenue guarantees, tax exemptions provided by law, capital contributions and loans. The authority may amend the contract unilaterally for justified public interest reasons, up to 15 percent of the updated final investment budget, and must fully rebalance the economic equation including financial costs; agreed amendments are capped separately at 30 percent. Compensation for unilateral changes, specific State acts with direct effect, and (if the contract provides) force majeure, general State acts or other listed events requires a material impact, and may be paid through an extension of up to 10 years (within the 40 year maximum), tariff changes, subsidies or other means. Suspension for force majeure is limited to 60 days, extendable once. Two percent of payments to the State under the contracts goes to the affected governorates and municipalities for infrastructure.
Example: On an updated final investment budget of PYG 586,831,000,000, the authority can impose changes of up to PYG 88,024,650,000 (15 percent), and the parties can agree further changes of up to PYG 176,049,300,000 (30 percent). / US$100,000,000 project: up to US$15,000,000 unilateral and US$30,000,000 agreed, a combined ceiling of US$45,000,000.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 2, 10, 26, 30, 31, 32 and 33, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

7. Financing, step in and disputes. The private partner may finance the project with any recognised market instrument and grant its lenders a special pledge or guarantee trust over the contract rights, future cash flows and the shares of the project company, enforceable directly. Before a contract is terminated for serious breach, secured lenders may ask to take control of the project company to cure the default, and the authority may offer them continuity; a substitute must meet the original bidder requirements. The partner may assign the contract only with prior approval to a qualifying entity, and may subcontract without being released. Disputes not solved by negotiation on private law matters may go to arbitration at law, and technical or economic disagreements to a panel of experts. State payments are made through a guarantee and liquidity trust fund managed by the Agencia Financiera de Desarrollo (AFD), which must hold at least 10 percent of accumulated quantifiable contingent liabilities and 100 percent of firm liabilities for the next 12 months.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 27, 36, 37, 39 and 43, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

8. Private initiatives. Companies may propose projects to the DGIP, provided the idea does not overlap with one already under study or planned by the contracting body; the future contracting body must state preliminary interest within 30 days or the project is deemed not admitted, and a project not admitted cannot be resubmitted by anyone for two years. Prefeasibility is assessed within 45 days (extendable) and, if accepted, declared of public interest without any cost obligation for the State; the proponent then delivers feasibility studies, which DGIP reviews within 90 days (extendable). The project is then tendered competitively. The State share in private initiative projects may reach 25 percent of the present value of total project cost (more with National Economic Team approval). If it does not win, the proponent recovers approved feasibility study costs from the winner, and may also receive either a bonus of 3 to 10 percent of its bid score or a right to match the best bid where its original price was within a margin of 3 to 10 percent set in the tender documents. Information stays confidential until the prefeasibility opinions; if no tender is called, the proponent keeps its rights for two years and the State reimburses approved feasibility costs.
Cost to do it: The proponent funds prefeasibility and feasibility studies up front; only approved feasibility costs are reimbursable, by the winning bidder or, if no tender is called, by the State.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 47, 48, 49 and 50, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

9. Public infrastructure trusts. State bodies may set up or join trusts or fiduciary assignments to develop PPPs, governed by this law and Ley 921/1996 on fiduciary business, with the same tax treatment. They may place in trust private domain assets, fees, tariffs and tolls, earmarked taxes, loan proceeds, donations, Treasury bond proceeds and Itaipú royalties and Yacyretá compensation within their legal purposes; public domain assets cannot be placed in trust unless first released. AFD and Banco Nacional de Fomento may act as trustees and the trusts may issue bonds under the securities market law.Ley Nº 7452/2025, Art. 44, 45 and 46, 2025-01-27 official text · verified 2026-10-28

Stage	Who	Statutory time or limit	Article
Preliminary interest in a private initiative	Future contracting body	30 days, otherwise not admitted	Art. 47
Prefeasibility review of a private initiative	DGIP with contracting body	45 days, extendable	Art. 48
Feasibility review of a private initiative	DGIP with contracting body	90 days, extendable	Art. 48
Call to bid	Contracting body	At least 120 days before bids	Art. 20
Reconsideration appeal	Bidder	5 business days to file, 15 business days to decide	Art. 23
Contract suspension	Contracting body	60 days, extendable once	Art. 33
Compensation by term extension	Contracting body with MEF approval	Up to 10 years, total term within 40	Art. 32

PPP timeline markers under Ley 7452/2025 (verified 28 October 2026)

Worked example

A consortium proposes a toll road with an initial investment of US$150,000,000 (PYG 880,246,500,000), well above the PYG 38,050,000,000 floor.
DGIP and the MOPC have 45 days for prefeasibility; the project is declared of public interest and the consortium spends, say, US$3,000,000 (PYG 17,604,930,000) on feasibility studies, approved after the 90 day review.
The tender gives at least 120 days to bid. The proponent receives, for example, a 5 percent bonus on its score; if another bidder wins, the winner reimburses the approved US$3,000,000 of studies.
The winner forms a Paraguayan S.A. as majority shareholder, signs a contract of up to 40 years, and pledges the shares and toll flows to its lenders, who get step in rights if the company defaults.

Step by step

Check that the project falls in one of the 17 sectors of art. 51 and that the initial investment exceeds 12,500 monthly minimum wages in present value.
For a private initiative, file with the MEF Public Investment Directorate (DGIP) with proof of technical, financial and legal capacity and a prefeasibility study; keep the timetable of art. 47 and 48.
Watch the SICP portal and national newspapers for calls; prepare for prequalification and competitive dialogue where used.
Arrange the bid bond with a Paraguayan authorised bank or insurer, and line up the project company S.A. and lenders' security package.
On award, form the special purpose S.A. within the period in the tender documents, post the performance guarantee and sign the contract once MEF and PGR opinions are issued.

Common traps

Ley 5102/2013 is repealed: guidance, models and timelines written for the old law (including the 30 year maximum term) are outdated.
Governorates and municipalities are not contracting administrations under this law, so local government concessions follow other rules.
The fiscal caps are system wide; a strong project can still wait if the 4 percent stock or 0.8 percent annual GDP limits are close to full.
Lenders and sponsors must accept that the State may impose changes of up to 15 percent of the updated budget, plus up to 30 percent by agreement; price the rebalancing mechanism carefully.
Force majeure and general State measures give compensation only if the contract says so; negotiate these clauses at the dialogue stage.
Cancelling a tender in the public interest gives bidders no right to reimbursement or damages, at any time before signing.
Arbitration covers only private law matters; administrative acts and sanctions follow the administrative route.

Sources

← Investment guarantee contracts in Paraguay: income tax rate stability of up to 20 years under Ley 5542/2015Selling to the State in Paraguay: public procurement under Ley 7021/2022, supplier registry, thresholds, guarantees and protests →

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