IKN

…..and nobody cares whether it ever becomes reality.

The big Twobreakfasts plan to save Peru from recession is the “PEE” (Plan de Estímulo Económico or Economic Stimulus Plan). The whole idea is basically pumping a shitload of money into the economy via public works (roads, build schools, hospitals…a whole list of stuff like that) using funds tucked away for the rainy day. The liars at FinMin came up with a plan to spend U$2.5Bn in 2009 which would, according to their skewed slide rules, add 3% GDP growth to Peru this year and save the country from the abyss.

Well here we are six months down the line and how is the plan coming along?

Oh dear.

Of the $2.5Bn aimed at Peru from the government coffers, only U$390m has been or is being spent right now. According to this report in South America’s ‘serious’ bizpress, AmericaEconomia, 16% of planned national works are or have happened, regional governments have executed 12% of their plans and local governments have m,anaged to get 15% of their plans going. Anyone who knows anything at all about LatAm bureaucracy will not be at all surprised, as most of the time they’re trying to work out how much of the slush can end up in their own back pockets. In fact, it’s interesting to speculate on just how much of that supposed $390m number has been diverted, never to be seen again (and certainly never to be turned into cement, rebar or tarmacadam).

There’s more chance of Diego Maradona bedding Keira Knightley than there is of this plan adding 3% to Peru’s GDP this year, but I doubt anyone in the higher echelons of Twobreakfastslandia cares a damn because there’s always INEI available to fix the figures for them. Style above substance? Of course! It’s South America, dude.