Cota 1061

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-15 22:12
China daily

SINGAPORE — The leaders and representatives from 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will gather in Peru later this month to collaborate in addressing the challenges facing the region, a senior APEC official said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Juan Carlos Capunay, executive director of the APEC Secretariat in Singapore, told Xinhua that the 16th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which will take place from November 22-23 in the Peruvian capital of Lima, is a very important event that will help strengthen the dialogue, exchange, coordinated actions and cooperation among member economies to handle the challenges.

Under the theme of “A New Commitment to Asia-Pacific Development”, participants will discuss the issues such as the ongoing financial crisis, human security initiatives, food and energy security, climate change, structural reform and corporate social responsibility, he said.

According to the director, prior to the APEC Leader’s Meeting, related events to be held in Lima will include: APEC Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting, APEC Business Advisory Council, APEC Ministers’ Meeting and APEC CEO Summit.

What APEC tries to do is to bring the organization to the ground, to help the ordinary people, he said, adding that APEC Peru 2008 will consider the social dimension of free trade and investment.

Carlos also stressed the importance of small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as the partnerships between public and private sectors, saying that SMEs employ a significant amount of the Asia-Pacific population but represent only a minimal percentage of exports, this equation has to be changed.

As for the APEC reform, Carlos said that the reform process has already started and what the most important thing is to try to introduce APEC a new impetus in order to contribute to the development of Asia-Pacific.

“The APEC reform, of course, is not just a bilateral issue, I am sure that this reform will continue because this reform has to be more substantial,” he said.

When asked about how Asia Pacific countries can handle the financial crisis? he said that the current financial crisis is a very complex one, it is not only originated by the breakdown of some financial institutions, but also by the consequences of oil and food price hike that affects the economy of the whole region.

Carlos said that the 1997 Asian financial crisis is a good reference, and people have learnt many lessons from the crisis.

He believes that China will play a very important role in dealing with the financial crisis, saying that it is critical for China to keep buying and investing in projects.

“China will play a very important role, it balances the capital market in the whole region, and the economy of the region can ride on China’s development,” he said.

On the stalled Doha round of negotiations, Carlos said that a number of situations have made it as it is today after seven years, there is on agreement at the end, there is no solution to push forward the whole process of the negotiations.

Carlos emphasized that APEC can not just let everything pending until the conclusion of the Doha negotiations, and APEC can do something to help resume the trade talks.

“In the short term, we should give clear, strong and full support to the Doha negotiations, and at the same time, we should, in the long term, pursue the establishment of Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area, this will promote regional trade and give the Doha negotiations a new impetus,” he said.

APEC, which was established in Australia in 1989, currently has 21 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, China’s Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. The chairmanship rotates among its members with Peru holding the chair this year.

<---End of Quote--->

Related Article:
China donates 63 vehicles to Peru for 16th APEC summit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-15 14:09
China daily

LIMA — China donated 63 cars to Peru Friday for the upcoming Economic Leaders’ Informal Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on November 22-23 in Lima, the capital of Peru.

Chinese Ambassador to Peru Gao Zhengyue delivered the vehicles on behalf of the Chinese government.

During the delivering ceremony, Peruvian Vice President Luis Giampietri, who is also president of the APEC High Level Extraordinary Commission (APEC-HLEC) expressed thanks to China on behalf of the Peruvian government.

Giampietri said “the Chinese government and people generously contributed to a better condition of the Leaders’ Week. I must say that this donation helps us solve the transportation problem of the leaders.”

Gao said that “China and Peru are brother countries, and the bilateral, political, economic, commercial and cultural ties are developed in a sustained and healthy way.”

He added that “the APEC summit is a very important event for Peru, and China is always ready to giving its sincere and loyal collaboration.”

“I’m sure that with the joint effort of the 21 economies, the meeting should be held very successful. I expect that the meeting be one of the best organized at the APEC history,” Gao said.

By Laura Mandaro
Last update: 1:09 p.m. EST Nov. 10, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Fitch Ratings lowered its outlook on Mexico to negative from stable, citing concerns over the capacity of the economy to absorb shocks from the worse U.S. recession in 25 years, reduced capital and financial market flows, and lower oil prices.

Fitch also cut its outlook on Chile to stable from positive, reflecting the ratings agency’s view that “an upgrade is less likely given recent domestic and external developments.”

Fitch affirmed Brazil’s stable outlook, citing the country’s “significant foreign exchange cushion of some $200 billion.”

It also affirmed Peru’s outlook as stable, noting the country’s strong external liquidity ratio and lower public debt burden.

7/11/2008 3:21:35 AM
Nine MSN Money

LIMA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Peru’s growing Antamina zinc and copper mine on Thursday raised its mineral reserve estimate by 77 percent, and said it was pushing ahead with expansion plans.

Antamina, a joint venture between BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX , 27.580, -1.620, -5.550%) , Xstrata Copper , Teck Cominco Ltd and the Mitsubishi Corporation <8058.T>, said it raised its reserve estimate for the deposit by 325 million tonnes of ore to 745 million tonnes.

It said it raised contained copper in reserves by 69 percent and contained zinc by 35 percent.

“Both grades and tonnages have increased for all reserve categories,” the mine said in a statement.

“Antamina is now engaged in studies for the evaluation of expansion alternatives based on the increased ore reserves base, with expanded production capacity of around 30 percent already indicated from the pre-feasibility study.”

The mine is one of the world’s largest copper-zinc pits. (Reporting by Maria Luisa Palomino; Writing by Dana Ford; Editing by David Gregorio)

Web Issue 3290 - October 28, 2008

The Herald

Peru is proving popular as an up-and-coming destination for UK holidaymakers for 2009, it was revealed yesterday.

Trips to Peru’s capital Lima have rocketed 98% compared with this time last year, according to online travel company Opodo.

Second in the list of fastest-rising destinations is Jordanian capital Amman (up 79%), with Cairo third (up 76%) and Seoul in South Korea fourth (up 67%).

Opodo UK’s director, Caroline Noble, said: “We’re noticing a trend for our customers to invest their time and money into destinations that are a bit further away, but perhaps cheaper when they arrive.

“It’s likely they are taking the strength of the euro as an opportunity to visit places in non-euro zones - destinations they might not have considered or have only dreamed of experiencing before.”

© All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

<---End of Quote--->

Related Article:
Exotic Peru becomes a must view

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Metro.co.uk

The number of trips to Peru has doubled in a year, as British holidaymakers become more intrepid and escape the strong euro for cheaper destinations. The home of Paddington Bear has seen a 98 per cent rise in reservations for 2009, a survey showed yesterday.
Second is Jordanian capital Amman, which is revelling in a 79 per cent rise in bookings compared with this time last year, while Cairo is up 76 per cent.

‘We’re noticing a trend for customers to invest their time and money into destinations that are a bit farther away, but perhaps cheaper when they arrive,’ said Caroline Noble for Opodo, which carried out the survey.

‘It’s likely they are taking the strength of the euro as an opportunity to visit destinations they might have only dreamed of experiencing before.’

There has been a substantial rise in 2009 bookings for the likes of South Korea.

Ms Noble added: ‘These places are exotic. Customers are investing more creativity into their main holiday.’

Fresh Plaza

Peru’s gross domestic product expanded 8.94% in August over the same month a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute, or INEI, said Wednesday.

The country’s GDP grew 9.92% in the first eight months of the year, it said.

Growth in August was led by a 10.35% expansion in the construction sector and a 12.59% expansion in the retail sector.

Production in Peru’s mining and hydrocarbons sector rose 11.36% in August, while manufacturing-sector activity gained 5.59% in the month.

Growth in the agriculture sector totaled 7.55% in the month.

The electricity and water sector expanded 8.96%, while the fishing industry rose 10.32%.

The “other” services sector gained 8.25% in August.

The Finance Ministry’s index of leading economic indicators had pointed to economic growth of 9.6% in August.

Peru’s economy expanded 9.0% last year, and similar growth has been expected for this year.

The statistics agency’s chief, Renan Quispe, said in a press conference that growth will likely be slightly less than 9% this year and that Peru’s growth will slow as a result of the global final economic crisis, as metal prices drop.

“It could affect our national products,” he said. “We’re talking about our exports, minerals fundamentally.”

Peru is the world’s top silver producer and a major miner of gold, copper, zinc and other metals, and mineral exports have fueled the country’s strong economic growth.

Quispe said, however, that a sudden drop in economic expansion is improbable.

Growth “isn’t going to drop all of a sudden,” Quispe said. “It will drop in a sustained manner.”

Source: fxstreet.com
Publication date: 10/16/2008

Oxford Analytica 10.10.08, 6:00 AM ET

Forbes

Peru is considered one of the most promising banking markets in Latin America, as about half of all working Peruvians still do not have bank accounts. As the economy continues to perform well, loans to the small- and medium-sized business sector in Peru are seen as a driver of growth. About 80% of all the country’s exporters are classed as small companies and many are in need of loans.

Global banks HSBC (nyse: HBC - news - people ), Citibank, Scotiabank and BBVA are all present in Peru. Development of financial products such as derivatives, corporate bonds and exchange-traded funds tracking local and regional indexes has allowed banks to serve corporate clients. However, like much of the region, Peru has faced rising food and energy prices, which have prompted the central bank to raise interest rates to their highest level in more than five years. This is likely to slow the fast rate of bank lending until inflation cools toward the middle to end of 2009.

Steady growth. Despite the U.S. slowdown and higher domestic interest rates, Peru’s credit growth has gained momentum and its 29 million-strong population, with an average age of 24, is eager to partake:

–Tourism, a free-trade pact with the United States from 2009, construction and manufacturing are part of a diversifying economy that is less dependent on minerals and international commodity prices than in the past.

–Transport and textile companies also have been growing due to increasing exports to the United States and Chile. After years of stagnation, Peruvian agriculture has been developing coffee, vegetable and tropical fruit production.

–Bank lending is still only reaching a small segment of the population, and is highly focused on Lima. Smaller cities with a growing tourist industry, such as Iquitos in the Amazon and Trujillo on the northern Pacific coast, are also expected to help lending growth to boost home ownership and small businesses.

Scotiabank potential. Scotiabank is the third-largest financial services company in Peru. Over the past decade, it has purchased three banks in Peru and merged them together to gain a presence in consumer finance, microlending and corporate banking. Peru is one of Scotiabank’s largest country divisions and is considered by bankers as a key secondary market in Latin America. In June, Scotiabank added to its portfolio by buying a share in private pension fund Profuturo.

Outlook. While Peru’s medium- and long-term banking outlook remains positive, lending could face a sharp tightening for the rest of the year as global credit markets dry up:

–Despite being well capitalized, Peruvian banks have begun to hold on to dollars in recent weeks, hurting liquidity in a country, which still has a strong reliance on the U.S. currency.

–Given the crisis, foreign credit lines for Peruvian banks, which have helped drive domestic lending, are also slowing–Peruvian banks borrowed $5.3 billion from abroad in the first eight months of this year.

–Meanwhile, the central bank has begun to inject liquidity into the system via repurchase agreements (repos) to help banks.

Banks in Peru have been embarking on an unprecedented period of lending and deposit growth amid regulation that has kept default rates low. Banks face challenges in reaching poor Peruvians traditionally outside the formal economy and further de-dollarizing of the economy. Bankers will also want to develop their services beyond the retail area to deepen capital markets and allow the development of financial products.

To read an extended version of this article, log on to Oxford Analytica’s Web site.

Oxford Analytica is an independent strategic-consulting firm drawing on a network of more than 1,000 scholar experts at Oxford and other leading universities and research institutions around the world. For more information, please visit oxan.com. To find out how to subscribe to the company’s Daily Brief Service, click here.

You may also sign up to The World Next Week, Oxford Analytica’s free weekly service providing depth and context to next week’s important international issues.

Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:54pm EDT

LIMA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Peru’s main stock index and currency rallied on Monday as governments around the world moved to shore up the global financial system after markets last week were were severely battered.

The stock index was up 12 percent to 8,541 points. Still, it has lost about half its value since June as doubts mount about falling prices for metals Peru exports.

The index of blue-chip companies , which includes the 15 biggest firms and large miners, was up more than 14 percent.

“It’s recovering on news about overseas markets, which has helped boost metals prices,” said Hernando Pastor of the Cartisa brokerage.

Peru’s currency, the sol , gained as much as 2.4 percent and later was 0.6 percent firmer at 3.056 per U.S. dollar. (Reporting by Jean Luis Arce; Writing by Terry Wade; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

<---End of Quote--->

Related Article:
Peru cenbank to offer dlr repos to boost liquidity

Sun Oct 12, 2008 5:33pm EDT

LIMA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Peru’s central bank said on Sunday it would offer repurchase agreements in dollars as a way to inject liquidity into the local market as a global financial crisis swirls.

The bank said it would offer the dollar repos for one or more days, as it is now doing with repos offered in local soles.

“In this way, the central bank will have an additional instrument to conduct operations in the financial system — in this case to ensure foreign currency liquidity,” the central bank said in a statement. (Reporting by Marco Aquino, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

ASSOCIATED PRESS
10:36 a.m. October 2, 2008

Signonsandiego.com

LIMA, Peru – Maybe sometimes it helps to be poor. Peru’s President Alan Garcia on Thursday urged his country not to panic over the global financial crisis – in part because it’s “a problem of the world’s rich countries.”

Garcia said “imprudent” decisions over financial regulation contributed to the U.S. crisis, as did out-of-date government oversight that failed to adapt to a U.S. economy driven by new high-speed technologies.

Peru “does not have such economic or technological resources and we realize that in a certain degree, right now we are better structured” financially, Garcia said at a ceremony opening a newly paved road in Lima.

“Peru is a country free of financial crises and free of international threats,” Garcia said.

Peru’s government says public spending cuts and US$35 billion in foreign currency reserves have prepared it to weather any serious global crisis.

The country’s Central Bank has also reduced some reserve requirements for local banks, encouraging them to keep lending even as global credit evaporates.

Garcia said rapid economic expansion and new international investments show that Peru’s economy is in good shape.

Just last month, two Brazilian companies announced plans to invest nearly US$1.9 billion in Peru’s mining and steel sectors and Peru auctioned off 17 oil exploration contracts expected to draw US$850 million in investments from foreign oil companies.

Even so, Peru’s Economy Minister Luis Valdivieso acknowledged last week that the global financial crisis will likely keep Peru from meeting its growth expectation of 9 percent in 2008. He predicted 7 percent growth in 2009.

October 3, 2008

Boston Globe

LIMA, Peru—President Alan Garcia said Friday that Peru’s economy is sound and could become a safe haven for foreign investment during the current financial turmoil.

But Peru’s foreign minister and a former president at the same time underscored Peru’s vulnerability to global economic troubles.

Speaking at the inauguration of a US$550 million gold and copper mine in the northern province of Cajamarca, Garcia said Friday that the “economic, financial and productive strength of Peru should convert the country into a refuge for productive investment.”

South African-based Gold Fields Ltd. began construction on the mine in 2006 and plans to invest another US$250 million to produce 4.8 million ounces of gold.

Such investments “create employment and improve global economic conditions,” unlike “speculative investments” that fuel turmoil, Garcia said.

Meanwhile, Garcia’s predecessor, ex-President Alejandro Toledo, said he is “not prepared to say Peru will be free from the adverse impacts” of the U.S. financial crisis.

Speaking in Ecuador at an anti-poverty summit, Toledo said Peru is particularly sensitive to a downturn on Wall Street because the U.S. is the primary destination for Peruvian exports.

This year has seen a boom in natural resources investment in Peru, but commodity prices have been falling on fears that a global recession will sap demand.

Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde also highlighted Peru’s vulnerability as he applauded the approval of a financial bailout package in Washington.

The failure of the U.S. economy would “clearly affect the whole world, not just North Americans,” he told Andina state news agency. “We should all be thankful that they’ve taken this decision.”

© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Friday September 26, 3:01 pm ET
Peru economy minister projects 9 percent growth in 2008 despite world financial crisis

Yahoo Canada

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s economy minister says only a global financial disaster would keep Peru from meeting growth forecasts of 9 percent in 2008.

President Alan Garcia says Peru has taken necessary precautions to protect its financial sector and holds enough foreign currency reserves to confront current economic turmoil.

Economy Minister Luis Valdivieso on Friday acknowledged that the crisis is “more difficult” than expected, but stressed that Peru’s US$35 billion in reserves and public spending cuts have shored up the economy.

Valdivieso forecasts 7 percent growth in 2009, even amid the slowing global economy. Annual inflation is projected to reach 5.8 percent in 2008 and drop to 3.5 percent in 2009.