The Agriculture and Economics of Peru

Peru's gross domestic product in the late 1980s was $19.6 billion, or about $920 per capita. Although the economy remains primarily agricultural, the mining and fishing industries have become increasingly important. Peru relies primarily on the export of raw materials--chiefly minerals, farm products, and fish meal--to earn foreign exchange for importing machinery and manufactured goods. During the late 1980s, guerrilla violence, rampant inflation, chronic budget deficits, and drought combined to drive the country to the brink of …

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