In the last decade, the country has seen a transformation associated with an increase in consumption, which in part responds to a new emerging middle class, Castilla said.

"It is an explosion in the capacity to gain access to goods and services that used to be concentrated in Lima, which shows the change seen over the last a decade in the country," he added.

The minister explained that this increase in consumption is driven by a middle class with rising income and purchasing power, especially in urban areas.

"The challenge is to bring the country closer to rural areas, allowing them to get involved in the [economic] boom the country has been experiencing and which we hope to build on in the next years," Castilla said.

He went on to note that Peru’s private investment promotion agency ProInversion has a US$10 billion portfolio of 26 projects which will be tendered through 2013 with the aim to upgrade basic infrastructure in many parts of the country.

(END) JJN/JPC/RZZ/EEP