Announcement of Economic Report on Peru on March 7, 1974

1 81 8 l-i STREET. N. W., WASHINGTON D. C. 2043 3 n::LEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 ·-·· - - · - - - - - -.. , . ""' .............. - - .. p ~ ....... - - - - . . . , - . .- - - - - - - - - - · - - - - - - - · - · March 7, 1974 ECONOMIC REPORT ON PERU The World Bank has announced publication of a new report on "The Current Economic Position and Prospects of Peru". * The report reflects Peru's efforts over recent years to reduce the role of foreign capital and enterprise, improve tne clistr.. :-ion of income and promote popular participation in development and its benefits. The pattern of Peru's economic development in the recent past began to emerge with the period of stabilization of the late sixties. In 1970 favorable commodity prices brought an export boom which .helped to strengthen international reserves and increase ~iscal ~evenues-. This facilitated the Government's expansionary policies and stimulated increasing output. • In 1971 9 export prices for copper and other vital export conunodities slumped and export earnings dropped by about 16 per cent. This deterioration continued into 1972 when domestic consumption output also suffered due to unfavorable climatic conditions. The report illustrates the vulnerability of the country's economy to adverse export performance. It also examines Peru's overall development strategy, the strains on the commodity market, agricultural and mining policies and problems of economic management. In the light of the increasing role of the State in the development ~d exploiting of the country's basic productive resources, the report evaluates Peru's biennial plan (1973/74) which projects an increasing rate of growth. The report also examines the Government's policies and discusses how an adequate growth rate c~n b~ m~ntained beyond th~ period of the present plan. Like earlier titles in the growing series of World Bank country economic re- ports, this publication on Peru is issued as a means of making available to a wider audience the results of comprehensive studies prepared for internal use by the World Bank and the Government. • * Jose A. Guerra et al., The Current Economic Position and Prospects of Peru, Washington, D.C.: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 1973. Printed from typewritten pages. Softcover, xviii + 219 pp., map, statistical appendix. Copies available at $3.00 each from Publications Office, World Bank, 1818 H St., N.W., Washington, D@C. 20433, U.S.A. or from the World Bank's European Office, 66, Avenue d'Iena, 75116 Paris, France. 1