Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


In an effort to push the country forward, Peru's government granted regional authorities billions of soles in 2007.

Unfortunately, only half of this money has been put to use.

According to local press, "it has been raining millions" but there is little to show for it.

The 25 regional governments across the country were granted 10 billion soles in 2007 but only invested 51.4 percent of the funds.

In 2008, another 15 billion soles have been granted to theses regional governments.

If we add the 5 billion not spent last year, which have to be invested by July, to the 15 billion that have been granted this year - regional governments have 20 billion soles to spend, said congressman Juan Carlos Eguren.

Regional governments will be able to do four times as much in 2008 as they did in 2007, Eguren told El Comercio daily.

The statistics for the way regional governments were spending funds were provided by a board in charge of supervising the investments made by governors and their administrations across the country.

The board also revealed that Peru's central government was investing even less than regional governments.

Ministries such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism have all invested less than fifty percent of their funds.

On the other hand, it was reported that the Labor Ministry as well as the Ministry for Women and Social Development had spent from 85 to 98 percent of their funds.