Peru's Central Reserve Bank has maintained a very pragmatic approach throughout the extraordinarily challenging past few years. Two of its top trading partners, the US and Europe, have been badly affected by economic recession and an ongoing debt crisis. At home, fluctuating global commodity prices left its producers battling with uncertainty.
As the global financial crisis gathered pace, the bank quickly lowered the country's interbank interest rate to sustain lending flows. It plunged from 650 basis points (bps) to 125bps. Only recently did it rise to 150bps. Together with Peru's ministry of finance, the central bank swiftly drew up countercyclical measures that were promptly communicated to reassure the markets.
