Metals sector applauds govt. supreme court purge

The Paraguayan government's recent decision to investigate supreme court judges is precisely the right message to be sending to potential investors in the country's metals industry, according to Felipe Aghemo, president of metals sector association CIME. For several years the "judicial situation" has been the stumbling block for investment plans, joint ventures and strategic alliances, Aghemo told BNamericas. The administration of President Nicanor Duarte and opposition parties recently agreed to impeach six out of a total of nine supreme court judges due to allegations of incompetence, corruption, influence peddling and other abuses of power, causing three to resign. This week the lower house ratified by a wide margin the motion to begin investigations into the other three. "The investigations are precisely to clean up this issue because an investor is [already] running the risk of investing in a plant, [so] he or she doesn't want the added risk of judicial insecurity, which is the missing link in this equation," he said. Paraguay's metallurgical industry is showing signs of recovery after suffering from the previous government's lack of strategies to grow the economy and develop the industry, Aghemo said, adding that the industry plans to participate in international trade shows to boost its development.