The One Advantage the World is Suddenly Fighting Over

Hey guys, Mikkel here, 

There are certain advantages a country can have that are attractive to investors, and many of them can support and fuel long-term growth.

…but some, however unlikely, are ultimately replicable.

A lower tax rate can be adjusted.

A pro-business government can be elected… and later replaced.

A growing population can be accelerated or slowed by policy, migration, or in-country living conditions.

All of these things matter, and all of them can absolutely contribute to the long-term strength of a nation.

However, most of them, on their own, won’t fundamentally alter a country's trajectory.

…and then there are advantages that are entirely different in nature.

I am talking about structural advantages.

Cheap, abundant, reliable energy is one of those advantages.

There are moments in global markets when something most people have spent their entire lives taking for granted suddenly reveals itself as one of the most important forces shaping the modern world. 

Energy is one of those things.

For years, it was simply “there” for most people in the developed world, invisibly sitting behind every light switch, every airport runway, every industrial supply chain, every refrigerated warehouse, every steel mill, every server farm, every manufacturing line…

…and, perhaps most importantly, behind every economic assumption that was built on the idea that “the machine” would continue to hum along indefinitely without fail. 

However, once that machine begins to sputter and the world gets a taste of what happens when a critical artery of the global energy supply becomes unstable, you begin to understand just how fragile the modern global economy really is.

That is exactly what the world has been dealing with as the Strait of Hormuz, which is, well… uncertain, to say the least.

One of the single most important energy chokepoints on the planet has moved from open… to effectively closed… to partially reopened… to technically open but still unstable, which is creating a kind of stop-start chaos that governments, corporations, or the markets can’t properly plan around. 

When roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas trade normally passes through that single corridor, the effects do not remain isolated to the Gulf.

They ripple outward.

They move through nearly every sector of industry and the economy - aviation, shipping, manufacturing, food production, and ultimately through the cost of living itself.

…and the consequences are already playing out…

Air Canada has already cut routes because jet fuel prices have surged so sharply that some flights no longer make economic sense (I just read that WestJet has followed suit, too).

Europe, meanwhile, has been thrown into open discussions about fuel contingency planning, and the entire EU is now working on emergency measures around jet fuel supplies, with the AP (Associated Press) reporting that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel left if the current disruption pattern persists. 

And then you have the Philippines, which has formally declared a national energy emergency after a shock to Middle Eastern oil flows threatened the country's ability to keep the lights on… literally. 

This is the part I really want people to understand.

Energy is not just another commodity, nor is it “just an important sector of the economy”… 

It is the master input.

It is the foundational layer that allows modern economies to function at all, which means the countries that can produce it reliably, abundantly, and independently are not simply “better positioned” - they are structurally advantaged in a way that becomes more valuable every single time the world is reminded how unstable global supply chains and imported energy dependence really are.

Much of the world is scrambling to secure fuel, diversify sources, subsidize shortages and pray that one of the most important maritime chokepoints in the world stays open long enough to keep the machine running. 

Paraguay, on the other hand, is sitting on a very different reality: a massive surplus of hydroelectric power that does not need to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

…one that doesn’t fluctuate in price depending on what Trump decides to “Truth”, I should add…

This means the countries that can produce it cheaply, abundantly, and reliably are not just better positioned to “save on power bills”…

They are structurally advantaged in a way that provides a massively important advantage. 

That kind of advantage is not incremental… it’s transformative.

Where That Energy Flows… Capital Follows

When the world enters an energy-constrained environment, reliable power stops being a “nice-to-have” and becomes one of the strongest magnets for new capital to arrive (think ANY large-scale operation that requires substantial amounts of energy to operate, which is basically all of them).

Once you begin to see it that way, once you understand that energy is not some side variable but the base layer under everything else, you begin to understand why Paraguay’s power surplus is going to continue pulling new operators into this already growing and well-positioned country. 

Capital, unlike politics, does not posture, does not argue ideology, and does not sit around waiting for consensus.

It moves.

It moves toward efficiency.

It moves toward stability.

It moves toward environments where the inputs required to produce, build, and scale are not only available but also predictable over a time horizon that allows serious investment decisions to be made with confidence.

When those conditions begin to deteriorate in one part of the world, capital does not wait around in the hope that things will return to normal.

It relocates.

What Paraguay offers is not just a marginal advantage that helps shave a few points off the edge of a business model.

It offers a structural advantage that changes where certain businesses can operate, how they can scale, and whether they can justify long-term commitments at all.

That is why early movers are already establishing operations in Paraguay, not because they are guessing, not because they are chasing some fashionable “next market” narrative, but because they understand what reliable energy means in a world where reliability is disappearing.

Manufacturing.

Food processing.

Data and AI infrastructure.

Logistics-linked industrial activity.

…to name a few…

These are not businesses that can tolerate instability for long. 

These are businesses where rising costs pose a serious threat and where long-term planning requires a level of confidence in critical inputs that many historically dominant markets can no longer guarantee.

Take Iceland, for example. Iceland is one of the clearest real-world examples of what happens when a country possesses an energy advantage that is too significant for industry to ignore.

Iceland was never a massive domestic market or an industrial giant, nor does it have the sheer scale on its side as many larger countries do.

…but what it does have is abundant, reliable hydroelectric and geothermal power.

That single structural advantage was enough to pull in energy-intensive operations like aluminum smelting and large-scale data infrastructure inward, which have fundamentally reshaped the country’s economic profile over the years.

In many ways, Paraguay’s position is even more interesting (and stronger) than Iceland’s because Paraguay is larger, less developed in key areas, more under-recognized by global capital, and therefore much earlier in the cycle.

That means the upside is greater for businesses that move in here (as well as for investors just like us).

That also means the pricing disconnect is greater… and that is where opportunity lives.

Once manufacturers begin to move in and establish operations (like they are doing now), and once they prove that production can happen at scale here, they do not come alone.

They bring infrastructure.

They bring jobs.

They bring supporting industries.

They bring supply chains.

They bring demand.

And when that demand begins to build, it does not remain contained inside industrial zones… it spills into everything else.

Demand for land increases.

Demand for housing increases.

Demand for commercial space increases.

Demand for logistics, services, hospitality, food, transport, and everything else that supports a growing industrial economy increases as the entire economy expands.

This is how regions transform.

At first, these shifts can be easy to overlook, but then, very suddenly, they are impossible to ignore.  

In Paraguay, first movers are already in place, but the broader market has not fully caught up.

By the time this conclusion becomes obvious to everyone and by the time the narrative shifts from “interesting” to “inevitable,” the largest upside will have already been eaten up. 

This is exactly why the Ramada hotel project we discussed a couple of weeks back matters so much right now… and why it should be viewed as an investment that is firmly connected to the broader growth story and macroeconomic situation unfolding in Paraguay.   

The Final Few: The Ramada Project is YOUR Perfect Entry Point Into Paraguay’s Booming Economy

The Ramada project sits within an economic corridor in Asunción that will feel the downstream effects of the very shift we have just discussed in this edition of Paraguay Potential.

The hotel is literally surrounded by the kinds of buildings, institutions, and commercial activity that generate year-round demand for hotels. 

We are talking about major office traffic, government traffic, business travel and project-based in one of the most important zones of the capital, near some of the most consequential buildings in the country. 

That matters because when an economy begins to industrialize, when more companies establish a presence, when infrastructure expands, and when capital moves in, one of the earliest and most overlooked forms of demand that shows up is short to mid-term accommodations.

Executives need somewhere to stay.

Managers, consultants, engineers and contractors need somewhere to stay.

…and that demand does not spread evenly.

It concentrates itself inside well-positioned, internationally known hotels like the Ramada.

That is exactly where this Ramada project comes into the fold.

The projected returns are not built on fantasy assumptions or “best case” scenarios designed to impress people who are merely skimming through this newsletter: the financial modelling is grounded in an average room rate of roughly $75 per night (which is standard for this type of branded hotel in the area), as well as occupancy rates between 65% to 75%.

Under those conservative assumptions, annual net returns are projected at 11%+.

Another Wyndham Group hotel near the airport is operating around 87% occupancy, which makes it very clear that the modelling here is deliberately conservative.

Here’s how it all works for you as an investor:

You purchase titled real estate (an individual hotel room) through a standard real estate purchase agreement, and at the same time signs a 15-year operating agreement with the local Wyndham partner that runs the Ramada flag in the country. Easy peasy. 

That means centralized management, consistent standards, quarterly reporting, and quarterly net income distributions.

…it also means the operator handles staffing, marketing, bookings, payments, cleaning, utilities, insurance, maintenance, replacement, and everything else that would normally create friction for an owner.

Your role as an investor is not to run a hotel…

…it’s to simply sit back and receive the yield.

And let’s not forget, while you’re receiving your handsome returns, the underlying capital is increasing, too, of course.

The project now consists of 68 identical rooms, all built to the same specifications, and that uniformity is intentional because this operates under a pooled ownership model, meaning it does not matter whether any one “specific room” was occupied on a given night… what matters is how the hotel performs as a whole.

This is standardized, commercial-grade hospitality designed to do one thing very well: fill rooms consistently.

Individual units are $120,000 USD, and the project is slated to be fully ready by Q2 of next year (2027).

Interest is high, and as of now, little inventory remains.

If you want to learn more, understand the investment structure further, or take action and secure one of the few remaining units in The Ramada Hotel Project, you need to contact my friend and partner, Markus, right away at [email protected].

Markus has already agreed to offer members of our community a VERY friendly schedule of fees, so by no means does securing a unit here entail parting with $120,000 USD in one shot.

I’ll leave it to Markus to answer any and all other questions you may have. Write to him right away to learn more: [email protected].

Speak soon,
Mikkel

PS. Yes, my team and I are very aware of the new Investor Pass that has just been introduced to serve those seeking permanent residency in Paraguay. That said, until everything is crystal clear, we will not comment on whether this is the right pathway for our clients and community members. Until then, we will continue to track this closely and will keep updated as the program details become clear. The current pathway we guide our clients down when they are seeking residency in Paraguay is effective, efficient, and incredibly valuable. You can learn more about it by visiting: ExpatMoney.com/Residency-in-Paraguay

PPS. Construction of the hotel is well underway. Here are a couple of photos that Markus recently shared in our private investors-only Telegram group. Should you make the savvy decision to invest in the project alongside me (as well as many others from the Expat Money and Paraguay Potential communities), you will be invited to join us in the group so you can keep up with everything being shared there. [email protected] for Markus.