President Castillo rules out nationalization in Peru and announces Science Ministry

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In his first speech to the nation, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo ruled out the nationalization of any productive activity and, instead, announced the defense of the concept of “social profitability” in private investments and the creation of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

“We do not intend, not even remotely, to nationalize any economy, nor to make a policy of exchange control”, said Castillo in his message before the plenary of the Congress, after being sworn into office, to address the criticism of his campaign proposals.

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He recalled that during the recent electoral campaign, “they tried to scare the population with the story” that he wanted to “expropriate savings, houses, automobiles, factories”, which, he assured, “is totally false.”

“We will do nothing of the sort, we want the economy to maintain order and predictability, which is the basis for investment decisions,” he added.

The head of state declared that it is possible to carry out the changes expected by the population “with responsibility, respecting private property and putting forward the nation’s interests.”

“What we advocate is to put an end to the abuses of monopolies, of consortiums that corrupt and charge artificially high amounts for basic goods and services, such as domestic gas and medicines,” he indicated.

PROFITABILITY FOR THE REGIONS

Castillo announced that he would implement “the criterion of social profitability” in the mining activity and other industries, which means that “every project must contribute to dynamize the local, regional and national economy, really increase the national income by propitiating the net income of capital and that the benefits are accounted locally.”

Likewise, the collection of taxes or royalties must be positive and relevant, improve employment and salaries following the International Labor Organization’s guidelines, and carry out technology transfer.

“If a project does not have social profitability, it does not go,” said Castillo and added that “this means a new pact with private investors, where the State intervenes to reduce costs, facilitate processes and maintain legal certainty.”

NEW MINISTRY OF SCIENCE

Castillo also announced the creation of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Technological Innovation to promote the generation of knowledge necessary for technological independence in the country, especially in public health and exports.

On the other hand, the President announced that the state-owned company Petro Perú would participate in all aspects of the oil industry, explore and exploit oil and natural gas deposits, the transportation to refineries, and the commercialization of derivatives.

“In this way, we will be able to regulate the final prices and avoid exploiting the citizen (…), we are not talking about public subsidies, since this company will have to participate fully in the market with its own resources, but with a reasonable profit rate and without any abuse,” he said.

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