IMF.............................WB...................................CIA
rank/measure.............rank/measure......................rank/measure
87/3,826.................77/3,910.................................92/3,787
Peru's economy today reflects like centuries ago its varied geography; the different climate zones facilitate widespread agriculture, the Andes rich in natural resources allow mining and the Pacific Ocean with its fishful waters makes commercial fishing possible. Economic growth continues to be driven by exports of minerals (mainly gold, copper, zinc), textiles, chemicals, agricultural products (garden produce and fruits), fish-meal, services and by energy projects making the country's economy vulnerable to fluctuation in world market prices.
As of 2011 Peru is one of the world's fastest growing economies. Although more and more Peruvians benefit from the continuous growth, inequality persists and the distribution of the country's growing wealth to all Peruvians seems difficult. Especially the poor infrastructure in Peru's provinces not only obstructs more investment in these areas but as well efforts to spread the growth. Additionally political disputes and protests against foreign investors may impede development of some projects related to natural resource extraction exactly in these regions.
To consolidate Peruvian exports and imports to and from its most important markets, Peru has negotiated several trade agreements in the last few years. In 2009 for example free trade agreements with the United States and in 2010 with China, Peru's major trading partners, became effective. From 2009 to 2011 additional Free Trade Agreements with Chile, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Mexico, Japan and Panama came into force. An agreement with the European was signed in 2011.
GDP
After several years of inconsistent economic performance, for the last 10 years the Peruvian economy is booming: between 2002 and 2006 it grew by 4%, with a stable exchange rate and low inflation. In 2007 the Peruvian economy could register a growth rate of 9%, the largest in Latin America. In 2008 a 9.8% rate topped the good previous year result. Even though Peru more or less emerged unscratched from the global crisis, growth for 2009 was only 0.9 percent, but rebounded to 8.8 percent the following year.
