Baruja highlights advances in poverty reduction and expansion of social programs

The Minister of Urbanism, Housing and Habitat, Juan Carlos Baruja, highlighted a series of advances achieved by the government of President Santiago Peña in social matters, noting that “the fact kills the story.” As detailed, poverty fell from 22.3 % to 20.1 %, and extreme poverty decreased from 4.7 % to 4.1 %, representing that 118 thousand Paraguayans left poverty and 30 thousand left homelessness.

One of the pillars of this improvement, said the minister, is the universalization of the pension for older adults, a project promoted by the current government. Within that framework, 340 thousand older adults already receive this assistance, and it is planned to reach 100 % of the beneficiaries contemplated by law before the end of the mandate.

In parallel, the Tekoporã Mbarete program reaches about 200,000 families, which translates into more than 500 thousand Paraguayans under social coverage. To this is added the zero hunger program, which guarantees breakfast, snack and lunch to 1,050,000 children in 7 thousand educational institutions. “This not only implies food, but also employment,” said the head of the MUVH, highlighting that 20 thousand people, mainly women, were hired in this program, also accessing the coverage of the Social Security Institute (IPS).

Indeed, the IPS today records a historical record of insured, reaching about 800 thousand people, of which more than 80 thousand were incorporated during the current government. “If we add zero hunger, older adults and tekoporã mbarete, we have almost two million Paraguayans under social protection,” he emphasized.

Regarding MUVH’s own actions, the minister reported that 27,500 homes are in execution, of which 18,250 were already delivered and received by their beneficiaries. “With this figure, in just two years of management we will match what was achieved in the five years of previous administrations,” he said.

Finally, he stressed the advances of the Che Róga Porã program, historically unattended by previous governments. Currently, 1,300 credits are pre -approved, for a value of 25 million dollars. He acknowledged that there are still difficulties and areas that should be improved, but said the government is working intensely to arrive with better solutions to the population.

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