Overview
- On Monday Julio Velarde received a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad Católica de Santa María in Arequipa and used the ceremony to outline his policy diagnosis for Peru.
- Velarde said Peru must become less clientelist and expand merit-based hiring and promotion across the civil service to raise public-sector performance and spur productivity.
- He argued that macroeconomic gains such as low inflation and central bank autonomy do not guarantee higher growth and called for stronger institutions, better public administration and more investment in education.
- Velarde pointed to the past decade’s loss of regional dynamism, noting that Panama and the Dominican Republic have outpaced Peru in per-capita growth and that this gap reflects structural weaknesses.
- He named the El Niño climate shock as the principal near-term economic risk and said preparing for its crop, infrastructure and fiscal effects is essential to protect incomes and public finances.