Essay Archive - Peru
Peru
Peru's gross domestic product in the late 1980s was $19.6 billion, or
about $920 per capita. Although the economy remains primarily agricultural, the
mining and fishing industries have become increasingly important. Peru relies
primarily on the export of raw materials—chiefly minerals, farm products, and
fish meal—to earn foreign exchange for importing machinery and manufactured
goods. During the late 1980s, guerrilla violence, rampant inflation, chronic
budget deficits, and drought combined to drive the country to the brink of
fiscal insolvency. However, in 1990 the government imposed an austerity program
tha....
|