SWF Close: Peru Minister

Peru should begin the process of creating its planned sovereign wealth fund within the next few weeks, its finance minister says. Using Chile’s sovereign fund as an example, the fund will be created out of Peru’s existing $2bn stabilization fund, and make investments globally. “The idea is to use excess government funds that would be placed outside of Peru and serve as a contingency reserve for a downturn in the economy,” Finance Minister Ismael Benavides told reporters Friday in New York. Benavides says the government is constantly looking at the international bond markets for funding opportunities. It is looking at a transaction either before the new government takes office this year, he says, or working in conjunction with the incoming government in order to issue after it takes office. It is considering both global PES and USD, Benavides says.