Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


The U.S. dollar's value continues to increase in Peru and around the world. It was valued as high as 2.865 soles on Tuesday afternoon.

According to stockbrokers in the Andean country, the dollar's value was boosted today not because of decisions made by the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, but because their is a higher international demand for the U.S. currency.

Outside Peru, the dollar has jumped to its highest level in three weeks against the euro and gained versus the Norwegian krone the Japanese yen and the pound as well.

This has been attributed to speculation the Federal Reserve will stop decreasing interest rates.

One factor within Peru that has contributed to the dollar's increase in value is the Central Reserve Bank's announcement to raise the reserve requirement on non-resident's bank accounts.

This and an external demand have brought the dollar to a 7-week high in the Andean nation.

In other reports, economists revealed that inflation for April would be as low as 0.39 percent, less than inflation in March 2008, which was registered at 1.04 percent but higher than April 2007, when it was at 0.18 percent.

The rise in prices has been attributed to higher demand.