Plans to combat poverty in Peru revealed

Peru’s new president reveals ambitious plans to combat poverty

Outgoing President Ollanta Humala, left, and Peru’s President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at the government palace in Lima, Peru. June 22, 2016. (Credit: AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Just weeks after his election, President-elect Pablo Kuczynski demonstrated his commitment to tackling inequality and poverty in the Andean nation.

“In 2001 we started with 54 percent of Peruvians in poverty, now we are at 23 percent. It’s an ambitious goal, but I want the poverty [rate]no more than 10 percent,” Kuczynski said in an interview with Peruvian broadcaster RPP on Sunday.

To reach his goal, Kuczynski will need to cut Peru’s current poverty rate by more than half, although the poverty rate only inched down 1 percentage point last year. Kuczynski also aims to make significant reductions in extreme poverty – defined by the World Bank as living under$1.90 a day – from the current rate of 4.1 percent to no more than 1 percent or 2 percent.

(…)