HABLA GUIDO LOMBARDI SOBRE CRISIS

Peru Lawmaker Lombardi Seeks Implementation of Stimulus Plan
By Eliana Raszewski
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Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Peruvian lawmaker Guido Lombardi Elias, head of Congress’s economy committee, called on the government to speed implementation of a stimulus plan worth 10 billion soles ($3 billion) to offset the effects of the global financial crisis.
Lombardi said Congress is willing to act quickly on a package and would allow debate to proceed directly to the floor.
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“The government last year was too optimistic saying the global crisis won’t hurt the country,” Lombardi, 59, a member of the opposition Unidad Nacional party, said in an interview in Lima.
Peru’s economy is showing signs of slowing after expanding 9.8 percent last year, the fastest expansion since 1994. The global economic slump is depressing demand and prices for the Andean country’s metals exports. Growth in Peru, the world’s fifth-largest gold producer and No. 3 in zinc, will slow to 5 percent in 2009, Finance Minister Luis Carranza said Feb. 3.
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Peru’s annual expansion in December slowed to 4.9 percent from 6.4 percent in November, the National Statistics Institute said in a report on Feb. 16.
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“The government must have a quick reaction to face the crisis,” Lombardi said