Peru poised for growth

Alonso Segura, Peru’s finance minister, speaks at the Bloomberg Peru Summit 2015 in Lima.

Peru’s potential growth is still higher than its Latin American peers, although the environment is challenging, the country’s Finance Minister Alonso Segura said at the recent Bloomberg Peru Investment Outlook Summit. Minister Segura lowered the GDP forecast, but said tax cuts, increased spending and lower interest rates allowed the country’s growth to rise from 2.4 percent to 2.5 percent in 2014.

Peru Central Bank President Julio Velarde said that there might be a fifth interest rate cut since 2013. If inflation slows as forecast, the bank has room to ease monetary policy, said Velarde, “though not that much because consumption remains vigorous.”

These statements were new insights from the government for more than 250 Bloomberg clients and prospects who attended the invitation-only Summit. Attendees also heard a discussion about the “Financial Architecture of Tomorrow” with Eduardo Torres Llosa Villacorta, CEO, BBVA Banco Continental; Carlos Gonzalez-Taboada, CEO Peru, Scotiabank; Jose Roca, CIO, Prima AFP; and
Oscar Rivera, President, Association of Banks of Peru. Banks will reduce their shares of dollar-denominated loans in portfolios to meet the targets set by Peru’s central bank, said BBVA CEO Torres Llosa.

A discussion on “Private Investment and Infrastructure in Peru” featured Beatriz Merino, President, Peruvian Society of Hydrocarbons; Jorge Barata, CEO, Odebrecht Peru; Alfonso García Miró, President, CONFIEP; and Roque Benavides Ganoza, Chairman / CEO, Cia de Minas Buenaventura. The third and final panel discussion was about the “Political and Economic Overview of Peru – Latent Risks” with Claudia Cooper, Economist, Compass Group; Alfredo Thorne Vetter, Founder, Thorne & Associates; Julio Cotler, Researcher, Institute of Peruvian Studies; and Vicente Tuesta Reátegui, Investment Manager.

Central Bank Governor Julio Velarde greets Marvin Fuentes, head of Bloomberg’s Peru sales for the Bloomberg Professional service.

The Bloomberg Peru Summit was attended by more than 35 reporters including all major newspapers and six leading columnists/opinion leaders, resulting in more than 70 stories by all major Peruvian media newspapers, radio, TV and digital sites including El Comercio, Gestión, La República. A major story about the Bloomberg Professional service appeared in Gestión’s paper and web site the morning of the event. And more than 700,000+ accounts and 2.5 million+ impressions used our hashtag, #peruafuturo, including a tweet by Peru’s First Lady Nadine Heredia. For more information, go to www.bloomberg.com/latam.

Julio Velarde, president of Peru’s central bank, the Banco Central de Reserva del Peru, speaks to reporters at the Bloomberg Peru Summit 2015 in Lima, Peru, on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015.

Contributed by Marvin Fuentes, Head of Peru sales for the Bloomberg Professional service.