LIMA, PERU – Peruvian Economy and Finance Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias today signed an agreement to cooperate on an initiative to improve the business climate in Peru.
In subscribing to the initiative, Peru joined 12 other countries in the region that recognize the importance of generating the necessary conditions to create a better business climate and attract private sector participation for economic growth. The countries now participating in this initiative are Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
The Business Climate Initiative was launched by the IDB in December 2003 to help its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean improve key elements of their general business climate and complement other activities to promote competitivity.
The initiative includes three aspects: evaluation and complementation of existing diagnostics, financing for business climate reform based on an action plan to eliminate obstacles, and indicators to gauge progress achieved towards the initiative’s goals. The plan will provide a framework to guide loans and technical assistance of the IDB Group to foster private sector competitiveness.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that the private sector is a driving force of economic growth and the most important provider of economic activity and opportunities. Improving business conditions for the private sector is crucial to sustained economic growth and central to poverty reduction efforts.
Measures to achieve an adequate business climate range from offering stable rules of the game for investors, to the removal of barriers that prevent the free flow of investments.
The IDB approved $13.1 billion in loans from 1990 to 2003 to support programs to improve the business climate.
A majority of the funds were used to strengthen financial markets, but there were also sizeable resources allocated for institutional and legal reforms, as well as for programs to promote economic stability and trade development. The IDB also provided technical assistance to promote private sector participation in infrastructure.