Weekly Report -18 January 2005

ECUADOR | Gutiérrez to push again for reforms. Emboldened by his recent success in building up a 'new majority' in congress, President Lucio Gutiérrez is preparing to push through his planned electricity, oil sector and fiscal reforms previously rejected by congress. Just how much of the original projects remain is not yet clear, but the presidency has revealed its strategy to achieve prompt approval. It will submit all these reforms as a package, labelled 'urgent' (a rough equivalent to fast-track procedure in the US).

Previously, the opposition in congress (which included several of the parties now included in the pro-government 'new majority') rejected the electricity and oil sector reforms on the grounds that they would pave the way for privatisation.

PERU | Growth outlook. Last November productive activity in Peru was up 8.4% year-on-year, the highest such rate since April 2002, when a 9.1% rise was recorded. The main driving forces were fishing (up 30.7%), manufacturing (+10.8%), construction (+8.4%) and mining (5.2%, driven by copper, iron, oil and gas). Agriculture was up a more modest 3.2%, despite the recovery in the production of potatoes, cotton and rice.

Worth noting: the upswing in manufacturing was driven chiefly by the non-primary branches, particularly textiles and apparel.