Paraguay has a predominantly agricultural economy, with a struggling commercial sector, a large informal sector, and a large subsistence sector. There is sizable urban unemployment and under-employment, and a large underground re-export sector. The country has vast hydroelectric resources, including the world's largest hydroelectric-generation facility, the Itaip� Dam, built and operated jointly with Brazil, but it lacks significant mineralor petroleum resources.
Paraguay's per capita GDP was $U S4,500 in 2007, having stagnated since the 1980s. Political uncertainty, corruption, limited progress on structural reform, and deficient infrastructure, has all been blamed.
Asunci�n has always been the center of the economic activity in Paraguay, mainly due to the location of all the national governing bodies there, and is the main distribution center. Industries in the city process cotton, sugarcane,corn, flour, tobacco, fruit, vegetable oils, and cattle products. The river city is the location of the production of small river craft, as well as textiles and footwear.
The rail system in Paraguay consists of a 234-mile (376 km) line between Asunci�n and Encarnaci�n (with a connection to Posadas, Argentina). However, all traffic has been suspended since 2006, except weekly tourist steam trains between Asunci�n Jard�n Bot�nico and Aregu�
Freight is transported on foreign-owned river steamers. A river terminal is located in the downtown area of Asunci�n. A good metropolitan bus service is used heavily. The main long-distance bus terminal is on the Republica Argentina Avenue. Asunci�n is served by the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport located in Luque, a satellite city of Asunci�n. The airport is named after Paraguayan aviator Silvio Pettirossi. It was formerly known as Presidente General Stroessner Airport, after Paraguay's former dictator
