Andina

Peru: Government generates employment thanks to reactivation measures, public investment

Photo: ANDINA/Presidency of the Republic of Peru

Photo: ANDINA/Presidency of the Republic of Peru

16:47 | Lima, May. 21.

The President of the Republic Francisco Sagasti on Friday affirmed that the Government's measures to reactivate the economy and boost public investment generated employment at the national level.

"The reactivation measures were expanded and improved over the last six months," the Head of State said in a televised address to the nation to provide a report on the six months as head of the Transition and Emergency Government.

"We have expanded business support funds, which benefit micro and small businesses, family farming, artisans, and the tourism sector. Therefore, we allocated more than S/4 billion (over US$1.069 billion) from the public budget," Mr. Sagasti indicated.

"We also increased the budget for the Trabaja Peru (Work Peru) Program, which has generated more than 120,000 temporary jobs in more than 1,100 districts nationwide," he added.


Public investment

The President highlighted the growth in public investment execution, allocating additional resources to health and education sectors, but also by accelerating infrastructure projects.

"Between January and April 2021, we reached a historical record in public investment, which exceeded S/9.5 billion (over US$2.539 billion); that is 40% higher than the amount registered in 2014 —which had been the best in terms of execution— in the period from 2001 to 2020," he expressed.

Likewise, the top official acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected Peru's economy.

"In order to face the second wave, we decided to focalize mobility restrictions, forums and activities, initially based on the prevailing epidemiological indicators in every region, and then in every province," Mr. Sagasti explained.

"We are assigning four risk categories to the provinces: extreme, very high, high, and moderate, based on their epidemiological indicators and differentiating the restrictions for each risk level. Even so, we know that these restrictions have a real and significant impact on economic activity and employment," he added.

As is known, Mr. Sagasti was sworn in as President of the Republic on November 17, 2020, and is set to leave office on July 28, 2021.

(END) CNA/JJN/MVB

Published: 5/21/2021