More than 40 percent of Peruvians living in Madrid have said in a recent poll that they would like to return to Peru, according to state news agency Andina.
The Regional Immigration Survey 2012 found that 36.6 percent of the Peruvians living in the Spanish capital are unemployed.
Hildebrando Tapia, member of the Andean parliament, said there are some 200,000 Peruvians in Spain. He estimates that some 80,000 have the intention of returning to Peru.
“Even though they seem like exaggerated figures, we can’t forget that Spain currently has an unemployment rate of 24.4 percent,” he said. “The number of youth without work in Spain is more than 50 percent, of a total of 5.64 million people unemployed.”
While Peru continues to post strong economic growth – the country’s gross domestic product expanded by 6 percent in the first quarter of 2012 and growth has been consistent for several years – Spain has fallen back into its second recession over the past three years.
Economists see little hope of a quick recovery for Spain, as austerity measures coupled with a troubled banking system have dimmed forecasts for its economy.
Spain’s banking system worsened on Friday, as the government announced that it would bail out Bankia, the country’s third largest bank, with 19 billion euros (approximately $23.9 billion).
