Born on October 3, 1938 in Lima, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard joined his father Maxime Kuczynski —a German doctor on the national health service who conducted missions and research on the coast, highlands and rainforest of Peru— since he was a child.
He spent the early years of his life in Iquitos, Puno and Cusco and then returned to Lima, where he attended Markham School in Santiago de Surco district until the age of 10.
The Kuczynskis were not going through a good economic situation, which explains why Pedro Pablo studied with scholarships. That was not an obstacle for him to enter Princeton and Oxford universities.
In 1948, the Kuczynski family travelled to Switzerland, where Pedro Pablo got interested in music. His mother, Madeleine Godard, a Swiss-French teacher, had a great influence on his musical taste.
After high-school, he entered a music school in Switzerland and took composition, piano and flute classes at the Royal College of Music in England. He won a scholarship to study politics, philosophy and economy at Oxford University.
A year later, he was given a grant to study at Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where he was awarded a PhD at 21 years. In addition, he received a Master's degree in public administration from Princeton University.
Work Experience
Kuczynski began his career at the World Bank headquarters when he was 22. He was in charge of several economic studies for Central American countries like Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua.
In 1966, already married, he was recommended by Carlos Rodriguez Pastor and Richard Webb to join Fernando Schwalb’s team at the Central Reserve Bank of Peru.
During the financial crisis of 1967 and Belaunde’s first term in office, Pedro Pablo and his team managed to solve the problems and economic chaos caused by the government at that time, due to excessive expenses and the deficit Finance Ministers left.
Kuczynski’s second goal was to refinance the US$800 million debt of Peru. He traveled to Europe along with Finance Minister Manuel Ulloa to get the long-awaited refinancing (deferment of the debt), something the army used as an excuse to stage a coup d'etat in 1968.
He headed to the United States during the military dictatorship and served as Chief of the World Bank Policy Planning Division, where he became acquainted with the world’s different economic realities.
Kuczynski returned to Peru in 1980 to support the electoral campaign of Belaunde, who appointed him as Energy and Mines Minister during his second term in office.
In 2001, the government of Alejandro Toledo named him Minister of Economy and Finance, a period of time in which the economy achieved growth rates between 5% and 8% a year.
Political Career
The current President of Peru served as economic advisor during the first term of President Fernando Belaunde Terry. He was also named Manager at the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCR).
In 1980, he backed the electoral campaign of Belaunde, who appointed him as Minister of Energy and Mines after taking office for second, non-consecutive, time.
Moreover, he worked as Government Plan Chief during Toledo’s presidential campaign and; once in office, he became Toledo’s Economy and Finance Minister.
The former World Bank economist served as Peru’s Prime Minister as well.
In 2011, Kuczynski ran for President on the Alianza por el Gran Cambio ticket earning a third-place position in the overall election results.
(END) CVC/CCR/RMB/MVB
Published: 7/29/2016