Chapter 6. Perú s Opening-Up: Strategies, Impacts and Pending Tasks

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the Peruvian economy has implemented a series of structural reforms with the objective of adhering the economy to the free market and opening it abroad. Private investment and exports became the new engines of the economy. Before 1990, the growth strategy was industrialization by import substitution, which, taken to the extreme, contributed to a profound economic crisis in the late 1980s. Then, the market and integration to the world. The transformation of the economy was achieved thanks to a set of structural reforms, among which were commercial and financial ones. From the beginning of the nineties until today, both reforms have been deepened. The achievements have been evident; however, improvements are lacking within the country, such as raising productivity, closing the infrastructure gap and the institutional reform that can maximizes the benefits of openness to the world