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 in the 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, and, although it faces $14 billion in arrears on its
external debt, is working to pay some $1.8 billion of these to the IMF and
World Bank by 1993.
GDP:
exchange rate conversion - $20.6 billion, per capita $920; real growth rate
2.4% (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
139% (1991)
Unemployment rate:
15.0%; underemployment 65% (1991 est.)
Budget:
revenues $1.7 billion; expenditures $1.8 billion, including capital
expenditures of $250 million (1991 est.)
Exports:
$3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
copper, fishmeal, zinc, crude petroleum and byproducts, lead, refined
silver, coffee, cotton
partners:
EC 28%, US 22%, Japan 13%, Latin America 12%, former USSR 2%
Imports:
$3.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery, transport equipment, iron and steel semimanufactures,
chemicals, pharmaceuticals
partners:
US 32%, Latin America 22%, EC 17%, Switzerland 6%, Japan 3%
External debt:
$19.4 billion (December 1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 1.0% (1991 est.); accounts for almost 24% of GDP
Electricity:
4,896,000 kW capacity; 15,851 million kWh produced, 709 kWh per capita
(1991)
Industries:
mining of metals, petroleum, fishing, textiles, clothing, food processing,
cement, auto assembly, steel, shipbuilding, metal fabrication
Agriculture:
accounts for 10% 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)

:Peru Economy

Illicit drugs:
world's largest coca leaf producer with about 121,000 hectares under
cultivation; source of supply fo