FOR a long time, the job of being Peru’s finance minister involved taking plaudits. Thanks largely to commodities exports, the country has been Latin America’s stand-out economic performer. Growth has averaged 6.4% annually over the past decade. Alonso Segura (pictured), who was named as a replacement for his long-serving boss, Luis Miguel Castilla, on September 14th, faces a less enjoyable sojourn in the role.
The new minister began work on the same day that Peru’s GDP numbers for July were released. They showed the economy expanding by 1.2% that month compared to the same month last year—better than the dismal June figure of 0.3%, but still well below forecasts. Mr Segura, a US-trained economist who had served as chief of staff at the ministry since early 2013, admitted in his first interview with the national media that growth this year would probably be below 4% (down from an already much-trimmed official projection of 4.2%).
Mr Segura nonetheless struck an optimistic tone, maintaining the ministry’s assessment that growth will return to 6% in 2015 and endorsing the economic policies of Mr Castilla, who was the last...Continue reading
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