Overview: The Peruvian economy is becoming increasingly market oriented, with a large dose of government ownership remaining in mining, energy, and banking. In the 1980s the economy suffered from hyperinflation, declining per capita output, and mounting external debt. Peru was shut off from IMF and World Bank support in the mid-1980s because of its huge debt arrears. An austerity program implemented shortly after the FUJIMORI government took office in July 1990 contributed to a third consecutive yearly contraction of economic activity, but the slide halted late that year, and output rose 2.4% in 1991. After a burst of inflation as the austerity program eliminated government price subsidies, monthly price increases eased to the single-digit level and by December 1991 dropped to the lowest increase since mid-1987. Lima obtained a financial rescue package from multilateral lenders in September 1991, although it faced $14 billion in arrears on its external debt. By working with the IMF and World Bank on new financial conditions and arrangements, the government succeeded in ending its arrears by March 1993. In 1992, GDP fell by 2.8%, in part because a warmer-than-usual El Nino current resulted in a 30% drop in the fish catch. Meanwhile, revival of growth in GDP continued to be restricted by the large amount of public and private resources being devoted to strengthening internal security.

National product: GDP - exchange rate conversion - $25 billion (1992 est.)

National product real growth rate: -2.8% (1992 est.)

National product per capita: $1,100 (1992 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 56.7% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 15% (1992 est.); underemployment 70% (1992 est.)

Budget: revenues $2.0 billion; expenditures $2.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $300 million (1992 est.)

External debt: $21 billion (December 1992 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate -5% (1992 est.); accounts for almost 24% of GDP

Electricity: 5,042,000 kW capacity; 17,434 million kWh produced, 760 kWh per capita (1992)

Industries: mining of metals, petroleum, fishing, textiles, clothing, food processing, cement, auto assembly, steel, shipbuilding, metal fabrication

Agriculture: accounts for 10% of GDP, about 35% of labor force; commercial crops - coffee, cotton, sugarcane; other crops - rice, wheat, potatoes, plantains, coca; animal products - poultry, red meats, dairy, wool; not self-sufficient in grain or vegetable oil; fish catch of 6.9 million metric tons (1990)

Illicit drugs: world's largest coca leaf producer with about 121,000 hectares under cultivation; source of supply for most of the world's coca paste and cocaine base; at least 85% of coca cultivation is for illicit production; most of cocaine base is shipped to Colombian drug dealers for processing into cocaine for the international drug market

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.7 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $4.3 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $577 million

Currency: 1 nuevo sol (S/.)=100 centavos

Exchange rates: nuevo sol (S/. per US$1 - 1.690 (January 1993), 1.245 (1992), 0.772 (1991), 0.187 (1990), 2.666 (1989), 0.129 (1988)

Fiscal year: calendar year