h major privatizations completed since 1990 in
the mining, electricity, and telecommunications industries. In the
1980s, the economy suffered from hyperinflation, declining per
capita output, and mounting external debt. Peru was shut off from
IMF and World Bank support in the mid-1980s because of 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
came to a halt late that year, and in 1991 output rose 2.4%. 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, although it faced $14 billion in arrears
on its external debt. By working with the IMF and World Bank on new
financial conditions and arrangements, the government succeeded in
ending its arrears by March 1993. In 1992, GDP fell by 2.8%, in part
because a warmer-than-usual El Nino current resulted in a 30% drop
in the fish catch, but the economy rebounded as strong foreign
investment helped push growth to 6% in 1993, about 13% in 1994, and
6.8% in 1995.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $87 billion (1995 est.)

GDP real growth rate: 6.8% (1995 est.)

GDP per capita: $3,600 (1995 est.)

GDP composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10.2% (1995 est.)

Labor force: 8 million (1992)
by occupation: agriculture, mining and quarrying, manufacturing,
construction, transport, services

Unemployment rate: 15%; extensive underemployment (1992 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $8.5 billion
expenditures: $9.3 billion including capital expenditures of $NA
(1996 est.)

Industries: mining of metals, petroleum, fishing, textiles,
clothing, food processing, cement, auto assembly, steel,
shipbuilding, metal fabrication

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity:
capacity: 4,190,000 kW
production: 11.2 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 448 kWh (1993)

Agriculture: coffee, cotton, sugarcane, rice, wheat, potatoes,
plantains, coca; poultry, red meats, dairy products, wool; fish
catch of 6.9 million metric tons (1990)

Illicit drugs: worl