on Thursday announced that the agency Standard & Poor's reaffirmed Peru's investment grade credit rating, with negative outlook, despite the shocks that the economy has suffered during the first half of 2023.
The Cabinet member affirmed that Peru's economy is moving forward, but has slowed down due to the social unrest during the first half of 2023 and the impacts of climate phenomena.
"In fact, we have (the economy) been paralyzed in January of this year, and there was a drop in GDP last May, but we are recovering, and that is reflected in business expectations, which are improving," he expressed.
Mining investment
Afterwards, the minister explained that the drop in mining investment recorded over recent months is given the fact that previous administrations had not cared about promoting the activation of new mining projects.
"Last year, we had Quellaveco (mining project), which invested US$1 billion; however, its construction has already finished. So, there are no more projects that support said mining investment," he remarked.
In this sense, Minister Contreras asserted that the current Government is executing a strategy to unlock mining projects, which is reflected in the expansion of: Toromocho (Junin region) and Inmaculada (Ayacucho region).
"There was also mistrust in mining businesspeople, but that mistrust is fading," Contreas commented.
"For instance, the Glencore company has already announced the activation of its Coroccohuayco mining project, and the only request made is that the law be complied with. So, if the deadlines are met, they will invest US$1.5 billion between 2024 and 2027," he added.
Greater resources
Along these lines, the Ministry's head stressed that his sector increases the budget for assessment-providing organizations in order to speed up the approval of technical files for extractive activities.
"We have to give more resources for analysts so as to increase capacity, since one official must handle 30 or 40 permits; that is why more assessment-providing officials are needed," he said.
The economist added that the Ministry is accompanying investment projects so that they do not face obstacles in their activation.
In parallel, coordination is being carried out with other sectors so as to articulate efforts aimed at unlocking (project) files.