2016 will be an important year for the Peruvian economy

On Tuesday, Latin Pacific Capital vice president Emilio Zúñiga boldly predicted that Peru would be the fast-growing country in Latin America in 2016, with a 4% growth in GDP. He explained that Peruvian production will continue to grow, and the economic situation in Peru’s major trading partners is improving. He told El Peruano that, “The government has taken care not to waste money, which is very positive, as it has not committed the same errors as countries like Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina. Mining will dynamize the private sector.”

Peruvian business journal Gestión agreed that 2016 would be a key year for reactivating investments in infrastructure and Peruvian mining projects. Investment fell during the last half of 2015, and it will need to recover in 2016 in order for the Peruvian government to replenish its mining project pipeline. As these projects have long timelines, restarting investments quickly will help the country recover from the internal and external problems it suffered from in 2015.

The story of the social conflicts in Peru’s mining industry received international attention earlier this week, when the Wall Street Journal reported on developments in the Peruvian mining industry. According to the WSJ, despite Peru’s transformation into the second-biggest copper exporter in the world, mining companies still regard it as an extremely difficult country to do business in.

The WSJ explained that, despite the commodity boom’s role in reducing poverty in Peru from almost 60% in 2004 to just over 20% last year, many lower- and middle-class Peruvian remain regarding the value of the mining industry. The article quoted one local Peruvian as saying that mining “is not a good thing, but it gives us money.”