A total of 413,000 people living in rural areas of Peru moved out of poverty thanks to the government's greater social investment of S/. 4 billion (about US$1.2 billion), Peru’s Primer Minister Pedro Cateriano announced.
Speaking on the decentralization process progress at the Congress, Cateriano informed this achievement has helped reduce poverty by 5.3 percentage points.
He said total investment in education, at the three governmental levels, rose 58.9% in 2011-2014, going from S/.2.4 billion (about US$761.9 million) in 2011 to S/.3.8 billion (about US$1.2 billion) in 2014.
Of the total amount, 83.3% was allocated to infrastructure projects. Local governments executed most of them, jumping from S/.829 million (about US$263 million) in 2011 to S/.1.8 billion (about US$571 million) in 2014.
This represented a 117.7% increase, mainly in Lima, Cusco, Ancash, Huanuco, Cajamarca, Ayacucho, Piura and La Libertad regions, where public investment was most heavily concentrated.
As for health, public investment grew by 90.8% in the 2011-2014 period, going from S/.859 million (about US$272 million) in 2011 to S/.1.6 billion (about US$507 million) in 2014.
About 70.2% of the total was allocated to infrastructure projects. Regional governments executed most of them, jumping from S/.373 million (about US$118 million) in 2011 to S/.993 million (about US$315 million) in 2014, that is, a 166.2% rise.
Last year, most health infrastructure investment was concentrated in Junin, Ayacucho, Cusco, Lima and San Martin, which altogether account for 63.7% of the total amount invested by the government.
Child malnutrition rates declined from 17.5% in 2013 to 14.1% in 2014, according to information provided by the World Health Organization. Cateriano affirmed the government’s goal is to reduce it to 13.7% by 2015 and to 10% by 2016.
The estimated percentage of the population served drinking water increased from 36% in 2011 to 63% in 2013.
In addition, the number of rural areas with electricity increased to 71.6% in 2013 from 64.2% in 2011, whereas rural telephony rose from 50.6% in 2011 to 63.6% in 2013.
(END) NDP/CCR/RMB/MVB
Published: 5/20/2015