In order to maintain current growth rates, Peru needs to intensify its fight against corruption, according to Daniel Kaufman.
Kaufman is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a non-governmental organization based in Washington D.C, that conducts social and economic research.
"Studies show that without addressing problems where one is lagging, like the institutional, governance and corruption issues, Peru will not achieve further growth as it has over the past five or six years," said Kauffman.
Between 2005 and 2010, Peru’s gross domestic product grew at an average rate of 7.15% per year, emerging as one of the most important in Latin America.
Kaufmann said there had been a boom in macroeconomic policy in terms of stability and economic management, over the last 10 years, which should make Peru proud.
"But on the other hand, with regards to governance and corruption, Peru has stagnated over the last decade, so the gap between the two is greater," he said, according to Andina.
Kaufman said that in order to reverse this situation, the fight against corruption must be undertaken by the leaders of the three branches of government; as well as society, media and the private sector.
The cost of corruption varies from country to country and from age to age, and the problem is that the poor "pay higher costs in relation to their income," and the private sector makes bribes and payments that represent several percentage points of their income, said Kaufman.
He recalled that in 2001 Brookings found that in Peru citizens had to pay on average between 1% and 14% of their income in bribes.
