Economy (Peru)
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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 in the 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, and, although it faces $14 billion in arrears on its
external debt, is working to pay some $1.8 billion of these to the IMF and
World Bank by 1993.
GDP:
exchange rate conversion - $20.6 billion, per capita $920; real growth rate
2.4% (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
139% (1991)
Unemployment rate:
15.0%; underemployment 65% (1991 est.)
Budget:
revenues $1.7 billion; expenditures $1.8 billion, including capital
expenditures of $250 million (1991 est.)
Exports:
$3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
copper, fishmeal, zinc, crude petroleum and byproducts, lead, refined
silver, coffee, cotton
partners:
EC 28%, US 22%, Japan 13%, Latin America 12%, former USSR 2%
Imports:
$3.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery, transport equipment, iron and steel semimanufactures,
chemicals, pharmaceuticals
partners:
US 32%, Latin America 22%, EC 17%, Switzerland 6%, Japan 3%
External debt:
$19.4 billion (December 1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 1.0% (1991 est.); accounts for almost 24% of GDP
Electricity:
4,896,000 kW capacity; 15,851 million kWh produced, 709 kWh per capita
(1991)
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)
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