WORLD LEADER: Aspargus exports from Peru, the world's top seller of the product, are helping to boost Delta's cargo revenues there by 24 percent. (Photo: APEC2008 )
BOOMING BUSINESS: Local and foreign companies are boosting their business in Lima and other key Peruvian cities. (Photo: JW Marriott Lima)
HIGH MARKS: Peruvian President Alan Garcia receives high marks from foreign investors. (Photo: Dante Zegarra/Peruvian President's Office)
Peru's fundamentals remain strong, spurring Latin America's fastest-growing economy.
BY JOACHIM BAMRUD
Despite a shake-up of Peru's cabinet last week, the country's outlook remains strong. New prime minister Yehude Simon has said that key officials like Finance Minister Luis Valdivieso, Foreign Trade Minister Mercedes Araoz and Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde will remain, signaling that President Alan Garcia plans to keep his market-friendly policies.
"We're very bullish on Peru," says Leo Rodriguez, Latin America president for U.S.-based energy and technology conglomerate Emerson. "We are very excited about Peru."
Gustavo Brunser, business development manager at U.S.-based publishing and design software giant Adobe Systems, is also upbeat on the South American country. “Peru has been doing very well,” he says. “It’s a very good opportunity for us.”
These days, visiting foreign investors are filling up the flights to Peru and hotels in Lima. Delta Airlines, for example, can boast an 80 percent load factor on its U.S.-Peru flights during the first eight months this year. It typically has one daily flight between Lima and the United States, but in the high season between July 12 and September 12 it added an additional daily flight. Despite the added capacity, Delta saw a load factor of 79 percent in that period.
What's driving the invasion? Strong confidence in Peru's business outlook, thanks in part to the booming economy. Peru's economy is expected to grow by 9.2 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund said last week. That's the best result in 14 years and will be Latin America's highest growth rate. It also follows four years of average GDP growth of 7.1 percent.
"More than 86 consecutive months of economic growth are evidence that Peru is living through an unprecedented economic bonanza," says Aldo Defilippi, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce of Peru. “Peru seems to have found its course, and the correct decision of ...
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