Alfredo Thorne, principal director at Thorne & Associates and former Peruvian finance minister: “Minister Burneo’s stimulus package comes at the right time. In July, real GDP (released last week) grew at only 1.4 percent year-over-year as compared to 3.2 percent in the first half of this year, confirming that the economy has started a new deceleration phase. The program combines greater current expenditures, new legislation to stimulate government investment, and measures to boost private confidence. The ministry calculates that current expenditures this year should add half a percentage point to overall real GDP, and government investment should add a tenth of a percentage point to the 3.3 percent real GDP growth forecast, as well as three-tenths of a percentage point and half a percentage point, respectively, to next year’s real GDP of 3.5 percent. A close inspection of the proposed policy measures indicates that the program relies on a short-term fiscal stimulus. The 2022 budget under-execution and excess windfall tax gains resulting from higher commodity prices in the first half of this year justify this additional short-term spending. However, our research indicates that…”