Sitting in his office, at the Peruvian ministry of finance’s understated building in Lima’s historic centre, a Unesco’s World Heritage site, Luis Castilla is more interested in talking about Peru’s planned reforms than he is pondering the country's recent successes, which include a sustained economic growth and some large international investments. It is, however, the modernisation of Peru's civil service, which is intended to introduce a meritocracy and improve efficiency, that Mr Castilla wants to discuss.
“We have a state that really hasn’t upgraded or modernised itself at the same pace as the economy,” he says. “We have been [suffering] in terms of government efficiencies because of lack of appropriate human capital. We are trying to put a bill through congress – a reform that has been postponed several times – but there is the will to undertake it from the president and we now have the resources to fund it.”
