Overview: The Peruvian economy is becoming increasingly market oriented, with major privatizations scheduled for 1994 in the mining and telecommunications industries. 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. In 1993 the economy rebounded as strong foreign investment helped push growth to 6%.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $70 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 6% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $3,000 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 39% (1993 est.)

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

Budget:
revenues: $2 billion
expenditures: $1.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $300 million (1992 est.)

Exports: $3.7 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: copper, zinc, fishmeal, crude petroleum and byproducts, lead, refined silver, coffee, cotton
partners: US 25%, Japan 9%, Italy, Germany

Imports: $4.5 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum, iron and steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals
partners: US 30%, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, Germany, Brazil

External debt: $22 billion (1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate -5% (1992 est.); accounts for 32% of GDP, including petroleum

Electricity:
capacity: 5,042,000 kW
production: 17.434 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 760 kWh (1992)

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

Agriculture: accounts for 13% 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 108,800 hectares under cultivation in 1993; 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:
recipient: 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 centimos
Exchange rates: nuevo sol (S/.) per US$1 - 2.180 (January 1994), 1.988 (1993), 1.245 (1992), 0.772 (1991), 0.187 (1990), 0.0027 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Peru on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Peru Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Peru Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.