The government's growth target for this year is 2%. The latest official figures show first-half GDP growth reaching 2.93%, with the greatest push coming from the construction sector - but with a decelerating trend: the rate for the second quarter was down to 1.95%.
This seems to be continuing: unemployment in the main cities in July reached 17.8%, almost one percentage point more than in June.
PERU | New partnerships with Mercosur and Bolivia. Last week Peru signed a `partial economic complementation agreement' with Mercosur, under which it becomes that trading bloc's third associate, joining Chile and Bolivia. The deal is seen as a first step towards a broader deal between the entire Andean Community and Mercosur. Peru also signed eight bilateral integration agreements with Brazil (its biggest trading partner within Mercosur).
Separately, Peru and Bolivia have opened talks aimed at establishing a bilateral common market. Their target is to launch the new bloc in a year's time.
BOLIVIA | Privatisation review may be toned down. The demand to review all privatisations under Bolivia's `capitalisation' scheme, which is shared by the co-ruling MIR and the opposition, appears to be changing direction. At a seminar organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in La Paz last week, businessmen and government officials laid the emphasis on the positive results of the policy. The line adopted by the minister of the presidency (chief of staff), Guillermo Justiniano was that `on the whole, it has been positive; there are some things than can be improved [so that privatised companies] can produce more and generate more profits for themselves and the country.'
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