The World Bank Group (WBG) highlighted Peru has made the most of its economic development over recent years, posting one of Latin America's best results in terms of poverty reduction.
"Peru has been characterized by the smart use of its economic growth over the last 15 years, with a strong redistribution element," WBG Country Director for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela Alberto Rodriguez affirmed.
In this sense, the WBG representative underlined the Inca nation's poverty and inequality reduction levels relative to the rest of the region.
"In the case of Peru, the main thing to note is that poverty continued to decrease considerably in the urban area, whereas in rural areas the drop was not as sharp."
In addition, Rodriguez underscored the Andean country's significant progress in tackling child chronic malnutrition and poverty.
"It [Peru] has already reached the Millennium Development Goals in a number of areas like child mortality rates, which came down by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015," he pointed out.
Economic slowdown
While poverty reduction has slowed down due to the economic downturn, the main concern now is how to protect vulnerable populations.
"Peru's economic growth is expected to bounce back next year. However, in the meantime, there are vulnerable families that could fall back into poverty," he warned.
Thus, the WBG expert deemed it essential to take actions that protect these households from sliding back into such condition.
"I think the economic downturn has taken a toll on the entire region; hence the overall slowdown in the decline of poverty rates," he explained.
(END) CNA/DHT/MVB