Editing Economy of Peru (section)

===Foreign investment and balance of payments===

====Foreign trade and balance of payments====
In 2001 the current account deficit dropped to about 2.2% of GDP ([[US dollar|US$]]1.17 [[1000000000 (number)|billion]])--from 3.1% in 2000—while the trade balance registered a small deficit. Exports dropped slightly to $7.11&nbsp;billion, while imports fell 2.1% to $7.20&nbsp;billion. After being hit hard by El Niño in 1998, fisheries exports have recovered, and minerals and metals exports recorded large gains in 2001 and 2002, mostly as a result of the opening of the Antamina copper-zinc mine. By mid-2002, most sectors of the economy were showing gains. After several years of substantial growth, foreign direct investment not related to privatization fell dramatically in 2000 and 2001, as well as in the first half of 2002. Net international reserves at the end of May 2002 stood at $9.16&nbsp;billion, up from $8.6&nbsp;billion (2001), $17&nbsp;billion at the end of 2006, over $20&nbsp;billion in 2007, and over $35&nbsp;billion in May 2008. Peru has signed a number of free trade agreements, including the 2007 [[United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement]], and agreements with Chile, Canada, Singapore, [[Thailand]] and China. Under President Alan Garcia administration Peru achieved a bilateral trade agreement with U.S. since 2010 to improve exports for its country and reach in August 2011 its pick in exports of more than 4,700 MM.

====Foreign investment====
[[File:Puerto de Callao.jpg|thumb|right|The Port of Callao is Peru's gateway for exports and imports]]
The Peruvian government actively seeks to attract both foreign and domestic investment in all sectors of the economy. International investment was spurred by the significant progress Peru made during the 1990s toward economic, social, and political stability, but it slowed again after the government delayed privatizations and as political uncertainty increased in 2000. President [[Alejandro Toledo]] has made investment promotion a priority of his government. While Peru was previously marked by terrorism, hyperinflation, and government intervention in the economy, the Government of Peru under former President [[Alberto Fujimori]] took the steps necessary to bring those problems under control. Democratic institutions, however, and especially the judiciary, remain weak.

The Government of Peru's economic stabilization and liberalization program lowered trade barriers, eliminated restrictions on capital flows, and opened the economy to foreign investment, with the result that Peru now has one of the most open investment regimes in the world. Between 1992 and 2001, Peru attracted almost $17&nbsp;billion in foreign direct investment, after negligible investment until 1991, mainly from Spain (32.35%),<ref>{{cite book |title=Foreign investment statistics (in Spanish) |url=http://www.proinversion.gob.pe/0/0/modulos/JER/PlantillaStandardsinHijos.aspx?ARE=0&PFL=0&JER=1537}}</ref> the United States (17.51%), [[Switzerland]] (6.99%), Chile (6.63%), and Mexico (5.53%). The basic legal structure for foreign investment in Peru is formed by the 1993 constitution, the [[Private Investment Growth Law]], and the November 1996 [[Investment Promotion Law]]. Although Peru does not have a bilateral investment treaty with the United States, it has signed an agreement (1993) with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation ([[Overseas Private Investment Corporation|OPIC]]) concerning OPIC-financed loans, guarantees, and investments. Peru also has committed itself to arbitration of investment disputes under the auspices of ICSID (the [[World Bank]]'s[[International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes]]) or other international or national arbitration tribunals.