Internationally respected Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto said Wednesday that Peru is in a good position to deal with possible setbacks during the recovery of the international economy, state news agency Andina reported.
According to De Soto, who is the founding president of the Lima-based think tank Institute for Liberty and Democracy, the fundamental causes of the global economic crisis in 2008 and 2009 have not been resolved.
“We aren’t optimistic with regards to the global situation,” De Soto was quoted as saying. “But yes, we do believe that Peru is in a very good situation to confront whatever comes.”
In contrast to De Soto’s global outlook, the International Monetary Fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook report that it sees the global economy recovering from the crisis better than expected.
“The recovery is projected to be especially strong in many commodity-exporting, financially integrated economies,” the report says. “Which account for about two-thirds of the [Latin American and Caribbean] region’s GDP.”
The IMF is forecasting that Peru will lead Latin America’s growth this year with an expansion of 6.3 percent in its GDP. Uruguay will follow at 5.7 percent, Brazil at 5.5 percent, Paraguay at 5.3 percent and Chile at 4.7 percent. Venezuela is the only country in Latin America whose economy is expected to contract at -2.6 percent.
