LIMA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Peruvian government is working to achieve an 8 percent annual growth to turn the country into a high middle-income one, Economy Minister Luis Miguel Castilla said Tuesday.
"By investing in quality education, bridging the gaps in infrastructure and applying knowledge to production, we can easily increase this rate by 1.5 or even 2 percentage points," said Castilla in an interview with TV Peru.
The current annual average growth rate is 6 percent, Castilla said, adding that maintaining the rate would help the government reduce poverty by half and transform Peru into a developed country.
"Our current task is to make sure that all the growth reaches the pocket of everyone," said the minister.
He also noted that the economic indicators for the first month of 2013 "are very positive." For example, the growth of capital goods imports, which indicates future investment trends, reached almost 25 percent.
The key factors contributing to the rapid growth are employment, which generates higher wages, and taxes paid by Peruvians, which are turned into goods and services for the population, Castilla added.
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