J.P. Morgan, Investment-Grade Ratings & Paraguay’s $88 Billion Ambition

Hey guys, Mikkel here,

A few years ago, when I would talk about Paraguay, I often had to begin by explaining why anybody should care about this little landlocked country in the middle of South America.

Today, that is no longer the case.

Paraguay is increasingly showing up on the radar of international investors, major institutions, businesses, and Plan-B families who probably wouldn’t have given the country a second thought five or ten years ago.

Paraguay has become one of the countries I have spent the most time researching, visiting, investing in and helping families explore for themselves.

I’ve invested my own money here, built relationships on the ground and brought members of this community, as well as my larger community of Expat Money members, down to explore the country firsthand. 

For years, I have been telling you guys about the incredible pace of development and growth happening in Paraguay.

The signs that serious international players are taking Paraguay seriously are becoming impossible to ignore.

A week or two ago, it was reported that J.P. Morgan is putting approximately $200 MILLION USD into Paraguay.

J.P. Morgan Natural Capital, part of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, announced a $200 million investment to build a large-scale sustainable forestry platform in the country.

The plan includes commercial forests, native forest restoration, high-quality timber production, carbon credits, and, importantly, the longer-term industrialization of the sector so more timber can eventually be processed into finished products in Paraguay rather than exported as raw material.

The more of that value chain Paraguay can keep inside the country, the more economic value it can capture for itself, creating jobs in processing and manufacturing, supporting local suppliers and logistics companies, developing a more skilled workforce and ultimately exporting higher-value finished products rather than simply shipping raw materials elsewhere and watching much of that value get created somewhere else.

Capital deployment is expected to begin in early 2027.

When an institution managing trillions of dollars is willing to deploy $200 million into a long-duration, real-asset project inside a country, you can be damn sure they have done their homework.

They have looked at the legal environment, the economics, the resource base, the infrastructure, the operating environment and the long-term opportunity, and decided there is enough there to put serious capital to work.

To me, seeing one of the world’s most recognized and trusted asset managers commit serious capital to Paraguay is a major vote of confidence in the country’s direction and long-term potential.

J.P. Morgan’s arrival is far from the only evidence of that.

In 2024, Paraguay achieved something it had NEVER achieved before in its history… an investment-grade rating.

Moody’s is one of the world’s oldest and most respected credit rating agencies, and some of the world’s largest asset managers and financial institutions rely on their assessments of a country’s creditworthiness. 

In 2024, they upgraded Paraguay from “Ba1” to “Baa3”, officially giving the country its first-ever investment-grade rating.

It took Paraguay 26 years from the time Moody’s first began rating the country to cross that threshold.

For those of you who don’t spend your evenings reading sovereign credit reports, investment grade is essentially a dividing line in global capital markets.

Below that line, a country’s debt is generally considered speculative grade.

Once a country crosses into investment grade, it enters a different category in the eyes of many of the institutions deciding where enormous pools of global capital can be safely deployed.

It doesn’t mean Paraguay suddenly became risk-free, and it certainly doesn’t mean every investment inside the country is automatically a good one.

What it does mean is that one of the world’s major credit-rating agencies looked closely at Paraguay’s economy, government finances, institutions and ability to meet its obligations and determined that the country had earned its way into investment-grade territory.

That is a significant milestone for a country that, not very long ago, I had to spend the first ten minutes of a conversation explaining to people.

More importantly, this wasn’t some temporary pat on the back.

Moody’s reaffirmed Paraguay’s “Baa3” investment-grade rating with a stable outlook again this past summer, citing strong economic growth, relatively low and stable public debt, credible monetary policy, and consistency in the country’s fiscal policies.

Note: In December 2025, Standard & Poor’s, another major global credit-rating agency, followed suit by upgrading Paraguay to BBB-, meaning the country is now deemed investment-grade by both of the world’s major rating agencies. 

For a country that barely registered on most international investors' radar even less than 5 years ago, the evidence that this is changing speaks for itself.

…and when you add to that the sheer scale of what Paraguay is aiming to achieve over the next decade, “Paraguay’s Potential” looks even more compelling.

McKinsey’s “Paraguay 2035” study is particularly interesting to me for that reason.

The analysis starts with GDP of roughly $42 billion in 2024 and identifies a potential path to a GDP of more than $88 billion by 2035, with roughly half of the increase coming from baseline growth and the other half from opportunities tied to productivity, more sophisticated products and new industries where Paraguay may have a competitive advantage.

Please read the words “potential path” carefully, because I am not telling you Paraguay’s GDP is guaranteed to double.

It isn’t. But it gives you and me a solid sense of the scale of ambition we are talking about.

Paraguay has high, realistic hopes of turning its abundant renewable energy, agricultural capacity, improving infrastructure, expanding international profile, and straightforward operating environment for businesses into a much larger, more sophisticated economy.

Paraguay is moving through a stage of development where there are still opportunities to get positioned, from commercial and residential real estate in the most established parts of its major cities to opportunities in some of the fastest-growing cities in the country, before prices climb, the best opportunities disappear, and easy-to-obtain residency pathways become far more complex (if they even continue to exist at all).

Some countries were once high on my radar but are no longer because the best opportunities disappeared years ago, barriers to entry rose considerably, or the economic, operating, or political environment failed to stay relevant to Plan-B thinkers like us.

This is just a reality of operating in markets that are transitioning rapidly before our eyes into globally recognized players. 

I would much rather spend my time understanding a country while institutional money is just starting to tick up, the infrastructure still has lots of room to grow, and international recognition is accelerating, than show up ten years late to the dance, once everyone agrees the market is worthy of a tango. 

That does not mean jumping into the market willy-nilly because you feel like you’re racing against a clock; it means doing the exploration, analysis and proper due diligence while the market is still developing and you have the luxury of being selective.

One of those luxuries I’d like you to keep on your radar is Paraguay’s (still) “easy-to-obtain” residency pathway.

Historically, one of the biggest reasons families have joined me on the ground in Paraguay for my Exploration & Investment Tours has been the ability to combine investment exploration with establishing a legal foothold in the country.

Paraguay’s “original” and still “easy-to-obtain” residency pathway begins with temporary residency and can require just two visits (when timed correctly) before you are eligible to transition to permanent status.

That is exactly what we have done for the well over 100 members of our community who joined us on previous Paraguay Exploration & Investment Tours and started the residency process while they were there with us. 

Compared with many residency programs around the world, the barrier to entry remains remarkably reasonable… hence why I repeatedly refer to this as Paraguay’s “easy-to-obtain” residency pathway.

Paraguay has now introduced another option called the Investor Pass, but there is a pretty significant practical difference between the two pathways. 

To secure residency through the Investor Pass, applicants must spend 15 business days in-country during the application process. 

Factor in weekends, travel days, the extra day you’ll probably want to give yourself to arrive and get settled before heading to the immigration office (and God forbid there happens to be a public holiday somewhere in there), and you’ll realistically be spending close to a month in the country.

You and I have families, businesses, careers and other commitments back home, and in 99% of cases, disappearing to Paraguay for nearly a month in the middle of everything else is a deal breaker. 

The Investor Pass also requires a qualifying investment: the real estate pathway requires you to deploy at least $200,000 USD, whereas the “easy-to-obtain” residency pathway does not. 

Most people I work with to secure residency in Paraguay will ultimately end up investing more than $200,000 into the country; however, many often build up to that over a period of months (or in some cases years), rather than having to make the capital outlay in one short period to satisfy a residency requirement.

For those reasons, I am still recommending “the original” pathway to the overwhelming majority of families and investors I work with.

That said, if you want to get everything done in one visit to Paraguay and aren’t deterred by the time-in-country or investment requirement, my team can help you with that pathway as well.

Click this link to learn more about working with my team of in-house lawyers at Expat Money to secure residency in Paraguay via the Investor Pass.

Now, the introduction of the Investor Pass has only strengthened a prediction I have been making for quite some time:

I fully believe “the original” residency pathway will disappear soon.

Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe Paraguay leaves the original pathway exactly as it is for years to come, but if I were you and I knew I was going to secure Paraguayan residency at some point, I would NOT gamble on that outcome. 

If my prediction is right and the original residency pathway disappears within the next 6-12 months, the difference will be securing permanent residency with only two short visits, or spending close to a month in Paraguay while also investing at least $200,000 USD in real estate. Something to seriously consider right now. 

For most families I work with, the immediate value of securing Paraguayan residency is its value as a hedge. It gives them another legal foothold outside their home country through a practical process.

Maybe Paraguay eventually becomes somewhere you live for part of the year. 

Maybe you invest or establish business interests here. 

Maybe it simply remains another country where you have legal residency and greater international optionality if circumstances back home ever change to the point where you need to get out. 

You do not need to know today exactly how you will use that option in the future… you just need to decide whether having the option is valuable enough to secure while it remains practical to do so.

The same principle applies to the investment side of the Paraguay Plan-B equation.

Once more infrastructure projects are completed, more institutional capital has arrived in force, today’s emerging districts have matured into some of the most desirable places to live, and every major publication has written its inevitable “Why Paraguay Is The Next Big Thing” article, you will no longer be early.

By then, much of the uncertainty that makes less informed people hesitant in the first place will have disappeared, but so will much of the upside that came with recognizing the opportunity before everybody else did. 

You’ll no longer be positioning ahead of the story; you’ll be buying into a story the market has already accepted.

I prefer to carve out my position in the market when there is still a ton of meat on the bone.

Inside my own network, we are seeing opportunities ranging from residential rental units to modern commercial office spaces, all the way up to private land-banking deals available only to certain high-net-worth members of our community.

I can’t tell you exactly what a specific apartment, office or parcel of land will cost next July when I am leading 2027’s one-and-only Exploration & Investment Tour, because I don’t have a crystal ball (despite being accused of possessing one). 

I can tell you that much of what is available to you today will not be sitting on the market at the current prices by the summer of 2027. 

When a market is growing at the rate of Paraguay, infrastructure is improving like it is, and institutional capital is arriving faster and faster, I don't build my strategy on the assumption that things stay even relatively the same (even on an eight- or nine-month time horizon). 

If I like an opportunity, I do the due diligence, and if the numbers make sense, I move accordingly. 

Maybe you should invest now.

Maybe you decide not to.

Maybe instead, you join me on the ground to start establishing the relationships you’ll need when the right opportunity appears.

All can be intelligent decisions depending on where you’re at readiness-wise and what your goals are.  

Of course, identifying a country early is only part of the equation.

One thing I have learned after decades of living internationally is that there is a world of difference between identifying a promising country and actually knowing how to operate inside it.

You can understand that Asunción is growing, and yet still buy the wrong apartment, on the wrong street, from the wrong developer, at the wrong price.

You can understand that land is scarce along growth corridors and still buy a piece of dirt that nobody wants from you ten years from now.

Information matters, yes.

The right access just matters more.

Over the years, I’ve built relationships with some of the most experienced professionals on the ground in Paraguay and created a network that gives families and investors just like yours direct access to opportunities that the general public doesn’t have. 

You can't recreate that network by landing at ASU, opening Google Maps, and giving yourself a week to “check things out”.

It took years, a ridiculous number of flights, hundreds of hours sitting across tables from people who eventually became my partners, visiting countless development sites, asking questions and paying close attention to who could deliver as promised before I was confident enough to open up my network to the families and investors I work with. 

That network is what you step into when you come to Paraguay with me. 

There is an old saying that gets repeated so often it has almost become a cliché:

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

In the offshore world, I would modify it slightly.

IT’S WHAT YOU KNOW AND WHO YOU KNOW.

The October Exploration & Investment Tour I’m leading in Paraguay compresses years of trial and error into a structured experience because you’ll work with me directly and meet many of the same offshore experts and operators I work with to achieve my own offshore goals.

Hotels, (great) meals, transportation - all handled for you.

Along the way, we'll visit the Itaipu Dam, one of the reasons Paraguay is such a powerhouse.

We’ll also take a trip to the Iguazu Falls - the type of experience that will make for a bucket list memory.  

Your only job is to show up prepared to listen, learn, and, when appropriate for your own
unique situation, take the action that will serve you and your loved ones for decades to come.  

Now, I need to explain something important about the residency aspect of this tour (about half of the people on this particular tour will get residency, by the way). 

We’re flying out in about 10 days, so this time, even if you were hoping to, you won’t be able to start the residency process (there simply isn’t time to get the paperwork sorted out before then). 

I can already hear some of you saying:

“Well, Mikkel, if I can’t get my residency while I’m there, maybe I’ll just wait for the next tour.”

I wouldn’t make that the basis of your decision about whether to come to Paraguay with me later this month. 

If Paraguayan residency is on your Plan-B checklist, it's worth seeing the process for yourself now, even if you are too late to complete the first stage with us this time.

Then, if Paraguay makes sense for you, you do NOT need to sit around until our next tour in July 2027 to begin the residency process. 

You can return on your own, work with the people we introduce you to and begin the residency process while the original pathway remains available.

Residency aside, the primary reason members from our community join me on the ground in Paraguay is to explore the country and its Plan-B benefits, while evaluating potential investment opportunities along the way. 

This is your last chance to join me on the ground before next summer (2027).

We kick things off on October 17th and will remain in Paraguay together until the 25th. 

Right now, our group includes 25+ of your fellow community members… and you’re invited to be a part of this amazing group.  

I understand that booking an overseas trip on relatively short notice can feel overwhelming, especially if you are used to planning everything months in advance.

I would remind you that waiting for the calendar to become perfectly convenient carries its own cost.

Paraguay won't freeze in place until July 2027.

The residency guidelines and investment opportunities will keep moving forward with or without you. 

Learn more and reserve your seat on this October’s Exploration & Investment Tour by visiting: ExpatMoney.com/Paraguay 

If October isn’t in the cards, I would highly encourage you to secure your seat for the only Paraguay Tour I am running next year. The tour is likely to fill well before July, so I would not leave your decision until the last minute.

2027 Tour Info Here: ExpatMoney.com/Paraguay 

Learn more about working with my team of in-house lawyers at Expat Money to secure your Paraguayan residency (the easy way) by visiting ExpatMoney.com/Residency-In-Paraguay

Remember, your Plan-B is not about finding some mythical place where every little thing about the country is perfect.

If that is how you evaluate the viability of a country, I’d like to tell you about a special little place called Narnia.

Savvy families and investors understand that every country comes with trade-offs. The objective isn’t perfection; it’s deliberately creating options in jurisdictions where the advantages are compelling enough to make sense for you and your family.

After years of putting in the work, I now have a network of people in Paraguay I trust enough to introduce to you, and I’m proud to be able to share that level of access with this community.

These relationships will become your Plan-B infrastructure.

I do not need J.P. Morgan to tell me Paraguay is worth paying attention to.

I have been here enough, deployed enough capital, and helped countless friends, community members, and clients establish themselves here to know this with the utmost confidence.

The takeaway from everything I shared with you today is simple:

The window to position early in Paraguay is narrowing. That doesn’t mean rushing into anything. It means doing the work now, while the residency pathways remain practical, attractive opportunities still exist, and you still have the luxury of being selective. 

Speak soon,
Mikkel