Peru Announces Nearly $9 Billion in Projects to Support Economy Amid Protests

Peru announced private and public investment projects worth about 9,000 million dollars that it expects to award this and next year, seeking to revive the economy that is slowing in a context of anti-government protests.
The head of the state promotion agency, Jose Salardi, said in an appointment with investors that the portfolio of 38 projects includes road, energy and sanitation works in the country, which since December has been rocked by protests, sometimes violent, after the ouster of leftist President Pedro Castillo.
“The key is to regain trust … and we have a mature model, with solid foundations,” said Salardi, head of Proinversión.
“To achieve this, we are simplifying processes, standardizing contracts and deploying all articulated work with ministries, authorities and the private sector,” he added.
In the same conference with investors, Economy Minister Alex Contreras said that the economy of the world’s second largest copper producer was affected in December and January by the protests, but that in February there has been a recovery according to some leading indicators.
According to data from the Ministry of Economy, private investment in Peru fell by 0.5% last year, compared with 37.4% growth in 2021, when it recovered after the pandemic.
“The goal is for private investment to increase by 3% this year,” Contreras said at the conference. “The need for reactivation is urgent (…) and it is not easy in an economy to recover from a coup d’état,” he said.
The protests, with 60 dead in two months, have subsided in recent weeks, but there is a risk that roadblocks will be reactivated.
Protesters are calling for the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the closure of Congress, a new constitution and early elections.
 
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Original source in Spanish